Ecclesiastes 3
"Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil."
(EPHESIANS 5:15-16)
1,440. That is how many minutes each of us gets every day. Have you ever wondered where some of your time has gone? Many days I am convicted about how I've wasted my time. As I counted the minutes and days during my long years in prison, that conviction grew heavy on my heart.
The life of John Calvin, a Reformer in the 1500s, is a testimony of one who truly redeemed the time. He preached every day and gave two sermons on Sundays, many of which we can read today. He wrote 22 volumes' worth of commentaries on most of the books of the Bible. One of his best-known theological works, "The Institutes of the Christian Religion," has been used in colleges and seminaries and by lay people for centuries. The amazing thing is that he did all of this writing in an era with no electricity. I'm writing this at 9:40 p.m. on my laptop computer with such ease. Imagine the time and effort Calvin gave! He had the same 1,440 daily minutes that we have...let's make the most of the days our Lord has set out for us.
INSIGHT
"TEACH US TO NUMBER OUR DAYS ARIGHT, THAT WE MAY GAIN A HEART OF WISDOM."
(PSALM 90:12)
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Leviticus 19-20
Psalm 56
Luke 20
Ecclesiastes 3
New International Version (NIV)
A Time for Everything
3 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
9 What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13 That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.
15 Whatever is has already been,
and what will be has been before;
and God will call the past to account.[b]
16 And I saw something else under the sun:
In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
in the place of justice—wickedness was there.
17 I said to myself,
“God will bring into judgment
both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity,
a time to judge every deed.”
18 I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. 19 Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath[c]; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”
22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?
Footnotes:
a. Ecclesiastes 3:11 Or also placed ignorance in the human heart, so that
b. Ecclesiastes 3:15 Or God calls back the past
c. Ecclesiastes 3:19 Or spirit
GIVE THEM GRACE [PART 1]
with Elyse Fitzpatrick & Jessica Thompson
Any responsible parent wants to raise well-behaved children, but for Christian parents that's not the ultimate goal. What matters most is that kids are dazzled by and respond to the love of Jesus.
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