The Conclusion of the Matter

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole [duty] of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.

Our whole responsibility, purpose, reason for being, is to fear God, worship God only (Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:13 "fear God only" as "worship God only"), and live according to His ways, as He has revealed them to us in His rules, commands and directions in His word. God's written Word is our Bible, and His living Word is His Son, Jesus, and His Holy Spirit revealing Him in us, to us and through us to others. How we respond to God--in accepting Him and His ways or rejecting Him and going our own way; and ordering our thinking processes according to the way God made us and our world, as He has taught us, to obey what we know of His rules. It only makes sense to read and follow the Manufacturer's instructions, whether it's a car or an appliance, or our very lives and families. And we will each give an account at the end.

Foolishness And Rebellion

Psalm 107:17-22

Some became fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of their iniquities. They loathed all food and drew near the gates of death. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them from their distress. He sent forth His Word and healed them; He rescued them from the grave. Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for men. Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of His works with songs of joy.

O my Father, I pray for all those I love dearly who have rejected Your gracious offer of redemption and gone on their own rebellious ways, and now suffer the result of their sinful choices. I pray, Father, that they will become aware of their foolish state and cry out to You in faith; that You would then save them and send forth Your Word, which is Life, into their lives to heal them of their emotional and spiritual maladies, and draw them to Yourself.

Strength For The Weak

Isaiah 40:29-31

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Our ways are never hidden from You, Father. You have created every detail of everything that is, and You are intimately involved with every part of it.

When we put our trust and confidence in You, Lord, who redeemed us, then Your strength will be available to us to soar as on eagles' wings, to run and walk and continue without growing weary or fainting, but to persist.

God Knows!

Isaiah 40:27-28

Why do you say. O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God"? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the Earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom.

How can anyone think God could ever not know every detail of everyone, our thoughts, actions, even our emotions. Paul told the Athenians at the Areopagus that "in Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). If we are all inside Him, then the whole Earth is in Him, and even the whole universe. He is always thinking about us, and I think that we are His imagination, and if He ever stopped thinking about us, we would cease to exist!

Serious vs. Trivial Consequences

Matthew 5:22

But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother (without cause) will be subject to judgment.

That's the same consequence of one who commits murder.

Again, anyone who says to his brother "Raca" is answerable to the Sanhedrin.

That was the courtroom, the legal judges. Sounds like the same consequence.

But anyone who says, "You fool!" will be in danger of the fire of hell.

Wow, this is serious. Murder and anger and contempt ("Raca") will bring one to the earthly courtroom to be judged. But to call someone a Fool has spiritual, eternal consequences.

"Many Mansions"

John 14:1-6

Do not let your hearts be troubled.

Don't worry.

Trust in God; trust also in Me.

You can depend on what I say.

In My Father's house are many rooms;

There are already many mansions, many dwellings there.

I am going to prepare a place for you.

It's a real place and I really am going there and will prepare a real place for you to live.

And if I go and prepare a place for you,

Which I am doing,

I will come back and take you to be with me that you also will be where I am.

When I go away, you can be sure that I will come back for you, I won't just send for you, I myself will come to get you and take you to be with Me so that wherever I am, you will be with me.

You know the way to the place I'm going.

You know Me, and I will take you there.

Thomas said, "Lord, we don't even know where you're going, so how can we know the way [to get there]?" Jesus answered, "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

There's only one way into this world (sperm and egg), and only one way into the next. It's God's house, He can set the requirements for who is welcome to enter, just like I can in my own house.

Spiritual And Material Needs

I Timothy 6:6-10

But godliness with contentment is great gain.

To seek God's face and follow His ways, obeying His commands, letting Him satisfy us, that is "great gain," that is tremendous riches.

For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.

We're all born naked, and if some seem to be born with a silver spoon in their mouth, that spoon is of this world and will remain with this world when we leave it.

But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

Wow, not even a roof over our heads is mentioned here. As long as we have food to nourish us and clothing to cover our nakedness and keep us warm, nothing else is really necessary.

People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.

When we want what we want and leave God out of the picture, focusing on this world and the things of this world.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

Loving money instead of loving God will lead us to wanting what money can buy, which cannot satisfy, so it leads to all kinds of perversions and excesses to try to fill the emptiness.

Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

They have "shot themselves in the foot." Some soldiers have done this with the idea that a wound would get them sent home, so they live the rest of their lives in the prison of pain. Focusing only on this world will be self-defeating; real life is spirit, and this world is material. There is no life in the physical, all life is spiritual: When the spirit leaves the body, it is dead.