“God gives a man wealth, possessions and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires, but God does not enable him to enjoy them, and a stranger enjoys them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.
~ Ecclesiastes 6:2
Hi James and Ellen,
Are you prosperous? Do you have a lot of money? Would you be happier if you had more money? Do you have a lot of things? Would you be happier if you had more things? Are you well-known? Would you be happier if you were more well-known? The author of the Ecclesiastes Book – who quite possibly was Solomon, scribes in Ecclesiastes 6 what life is like having a lot of money, having a lot of things and being well-known. Verse 2 says, “God gives a man wealth, possessions and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires, but God does not enable him to enjoy them, and a stranger enjoys them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.” If the driving heart desire of a guy or gal is to have a lot of money, to have a lot of things and to be well-known, these are – per the Ecclesiastes Book author/teacher, wrong desires. If you have heart desires, what are they? Would you like your dad and ma to have a lot more money than what they have so that they would be able to give you more money than what you already have? Would you liked to have gotten a lot more Christmas gifts than the number of gifts that you received this year? Would you like to be the best known kid in your school so that you could ask other kids do things for you? What do you think a guy or gal should do with his or her life? Are you planning to do something with your lives? What do you think that your lives are to God? Per the Ecclesiastes Book author/teacher, your lives are nothing more than a few meaningless days that quickly pass like a shadow before God. If you know that God has for you short life tenures on planet Earth, what do you think that God expects you to do with your lives? Do you think that God expects you to live your lives doing whatever you can do to accumulate a whole lot of money? Do you think that God expects you to live your lives doing whatever you can do to acquire a whole lot of things? Do you think that God expects you to live your lives doing whatever you can do to be the most well-known guy and gal wherever you are and in whatever you do? Do you think that a guy or gal would be happier having a lot more money if he or she is not satisfied with the money that he or she already has? Do you think that a guy or gal would be happier having a lot more things if he or she is not satisfied with the things that he or she already has? Do you think that a guy or gal would be happier being more well-known if he or she is not satisfied with who he or she already is?
Solomon accumulated a whole lot of wealth. Solomon accumulated a whole lot of things. Solomon was a very well-known guy. Do you think that Solomon – if he is the guy who wrote the Ecclesiastes Book, is communicating in this chapter – in spite of all the wealth that he had, in spite of all the stuff that he had, in spite of being really well-known, being a happy camper? Your grandpaa hears a guy bemoaning on how really foolish a guy is when he has made as his life goals hoarding wealth, obtaining possessions and being esteemed. Even though the author of the Ecclesiastes Book apparently had amassed more proportionally available wealth than any other guy had ever done, accrued more proportionally invaluable things than any other guy had ever done and was more universally well-known than any other guy had ever been, your grandpaa hears a guy wondering why a guy would ever want to try to satisfy an insatiable money appetite, an unquenchable stuff addiction and an unappeasable hunger to be well-known when the likelihood of having any of these life goals ever really happening is like chasing the wind. The guy probably from his own life experiences knew that it just will never ever happen that wealth, possessions and honor will bring inner contentment in the life of a guy or gal. Invariably, in the end – when a guy or gal dies, wealth and possessions are divided up between guys and gals who do not care at all who the guy or gal ever was and his or her honor is forgotten. The author of the Ecclesiastes Book says that it heavily bothers guys – he is probably including himself in the list of guys who say that it heavily bothers, how really grievous and dreadful it is in how quickly that a guy is forgotten – even by his own kids, even though he had acquired a lot of wealth, had collected a lot of things and had been really well known by lots and lots of guys and gals.
Do you know what the first Christmas gift was? The first Christmas gift was a baby. The baby gift was a promised boy. An angel told the boy’s dad that he was to name his kid Jesus. Jesus’ name means Yahweh Saves and/or Anointed One. Jesus brought to planet Earth different kinds of gifts. These gifts include everlasting hope, inner peace, unfathomable joy, unconditional salvation, sin ransomed and life purpose. Jesus gave versus receiving. If you are content with the free gifts that Jesus has already given you or that He wants to give you, you will find that living in a dirt floor home, eating hand to mouth and being in a community of supportive friends and family is enough to meet your hearts’ real desires and passions. This is the kind of life that kids in underdeveloped countries on planet Earth are living. Because the gifts that Jesus brought are what produce actual prosperity through feelings of wellbeing, hope and happiness, these kids are content not to have money, stuff and be well-known. Your grandpaa knows that while he was living in Bolivia and Guatemala, that he learned a lot more from his hosts than what they learned from him.
Ecclesiastes 6 (783)