"I made me..; I builded me..; I planted me..; I got me..; I gathered me....So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me....and whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy....Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 2, KJV)
I used the KJV today because it was the translation from which I first read today's passage; notice the "mes." Verse 4 in the NLT says that what drove the writer to make, build, plant, get, gather was, "I... tried to find meaning...." This is what drives a person who is living for him/herself, "running the show," seeking, "meaning," in life on their own terms; nothing but frustration.
One must admit that neither the Bible nor those who "compiled" the Canon attempted to "pretty up" "heroes of the faith." If "pretty religion" was the desire, perhaps Ecclesiastes would have been left out. In the Bible we discover that, "The Word of God," Jesus, is telling humanity, "....Everyone (Yes, Solomon, even Mary, St. Christopher, all those great preachers) has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard" (NLT). Furthermore, there is some of today's text in all of us, "I...me," with the exception, of course, of the spirituals among us.
Martin Luther wrote that our, "righteousness...is an alien righteousness, that is, the righteousness of another, instilled from without. This is the righteousness of Christ by which he justifies through faith, as it is written in 1 Cor. 1:30, 'whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption.'" Biblical Theology states unequivocally that you and I were born sinners, as was Solomon, David, Paul. The first two chapters of Ecclesiastes reveal the turmoil which came to a man who had lived for, "I made me....I got me....I was great."
In his Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer stated, "The only man who has the right to say that he is justified by grace alone is the man who has left all to follow Jesus." Everyone in the Bible, everyone who ever lived, all of us today can only claim "the righteousness Christ", the very, "sanctification and redemption," which are in Jesus Christ Alone when we, "deny himself, and take up the cross...and follow Me." Only those who want to continue a life of, "I made me," reject this.
Father, in Jesus' Name, I repent of any, "I made me," in my life. I renew my desire, yea, my plea today that, Holy Spirit, You convict me of any, "I made me." Amen.
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October/November Mission, October 28-November 15
I used the KJV today because it was the translation from which I first read today's passage; notice the "mes." Verse 4 in the NLT says that what drove the writer to make, build, plant, get, gather was, "I... tried to find meaning...." This is what drives a person who is living for him/herself, "running the show," seeking, "meaning," in life on their own terms; nothing but frustration.
One must admit that neither the Bible nor those who "compiled" the Canon attempted to "pretty up" "heroes of the faith." If "pretty religion" was the desire, perhaps Ecclesiastes would have been left out. In the Bible we discover that, "The Word of God," Jesus, is telling humanity, "....Everyone (Yes, Solomon, even Mary, St. Christopher, all those great preachers) has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard" (NLT). Furthermore, there is some of today's text in all of us, "I...me," with the exception, of course, of the spirituals among us.
Martin Luther wrote that our, "righteousness...is an alien righteousness, that is, the righteousness of another, instilled from without. This is the righteousness of Christ by which he justifies through faith, as it is written in 1 Cor. 1:30, 'whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption.'" Biblical Theology states unequivocally that you and I were born sinners, as was Solomon, David, Paul. The first two chapters of Ecclesiastes reveal the turmoil which came to a man who had lived for, "I made me....I got me....I was great."
In his Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer stated, "The only man who has the right to say that he is justified by grace alone is the man who has left all to follow Jesus." Everyone in the Bible, everyone who ever lived, all of us today can only claim "the righteousness Christ", the very, "sanctification and redemption," which are in Jesus Christ Alone when we, "deny himself, and take up the cross...and follow Me." Only those who want to continue a life of, "I made me," reject this.
Father, in Jesus' Name, I repent of any, "I made me," in my life. I renew my desire, yea, my plea today that, Holy Spirit, You convict me of any, "I made me." Amen.
*************************
October/November Mission, October 28-November 15
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 12:2
