A Study on Love - Edition #18

Monday, January 23rd, 2006

A Study on Love – Edition #18

Proverbs 11:25 A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.

Jeremiah 31:23-25
23 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "When I bring them back from captivity, the people in the land of Judah and in its towns will once again use these words: 'The LORD bless you, O righteous dwelling, O sacred mountain.' 24 People will live together in Judah and all its towns—farmers and those who move about with their flocks. 25 I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint."

Philemon 1:4-7
4 I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. 6 I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. 7 Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.

You know… I struggle. The refreshment I seek when I try to encourage others is from man. What I should be looking for is refreshment from God. And sometimes I do… but sometimes I don’t. I reflected last night that as much as I want to be like Jesus, my name will forever be Johnny Ray. I would like people to look at me and see Jesus, but never will I hear the words “Jesus” when someone looks at me. My driver’s license will forever bear my name of Johnny Ray. So when I do something, my sinful nature, the sinful nature of Johnny Ray, will always be there. When I do a good deed, a thank you is sometimes expected. When I do this or that well, I secretly want praise. And it’s wrong to want such… but that is my sinful nature. But because I love enough to do something, I somewhat expect the boomerang effect and not just throwing a stick. I want the love to come back to me that I gave. And sadly, it doesn’t happen a lot of the time.

In high school, I had friends. We called each other regularly. It was understood that we would be hanging out each and every weekend. We wanted to be with each other. The love we shared was a brotherly love. It was strong and when we didn’t hang out together, something felt wrong. It felt strange. We were unified and thought as one.

Ecclesiastes 1:12-18
12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men! 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

15 What is twisted cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.

16 I thought to myself, "Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge." 17 Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.

18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.

Solomon is a biblical hero of mine. This guy had a million times more than Bill Gates… he had everything his heart could possibly desire. And yet, he left God. Isn’t that how it goes? God blesses and people take it and run. I have prayed to live up to my son’s name. I am many things. I am a genius. I am bi-polar. I am inflicted with tinnitus. I am a disciple of Christ. I am a chemical dependant. And a similarity I see between myself and Solomon is this: Solomon had wisdom and it came from his mistakes – he learned from them. He found that all the things he went after, women, money, and possessions, they were empty.

Ecclesiastes 5:10 whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless.

I think of this scripture and I turn it around to something else: Whoever loves God never has enough God; whoever loves Christ is never satisfied with his spirituality. This is not meaningless.

Ecclesiastes 5:15 Naked a man comes from his mother's womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand.

Why live for something that death can take away? I can work hard for a job, I can work hard for a house, car, and all sorts of junk… but when I die, it stays here on this dirty earth… and then I come before judgment and speak of my actions and what I lived for.

Ecclesiastes 9:1-12
1 So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God's hands, but no man knows whether love or hate awaits him. 2 All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good man, so with the sinner; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them.

3 This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. 4 Anyone who is among the living has hope - even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!

5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.

7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do. 8 Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. 9 Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun - all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

11 I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. 12 Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.

Good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people… but there is one thing I can do… I can do my best to bless everyone and refresh them. I am a creature of circumstance. I do not know the hour that will befall me. Time and chance will happen to me, my wife and son. But as a card is dealt from a deck, I too will have to play with what is given me and make the best of what I have. A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes life merry, but money is the answer for everything. Or so it seems in this world. It takes money to build a house. It takes money to buy food. It takes money to get diapers. It takes money to love others. It takes money to love God. Or does it?