"Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing." --Ecc 1:2-8
Sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, bereft, self-seekers, winners, losers, and the rest, BEWARE.
It is not about YOU, regardless.
Recall and strive to live THE FIRST COMMANDMENT if you can't muster the effort to do anything else worth striving for. For, if you do (follow the 1st commandment) . . . all else worthy and holy and joyful follows. THAT is the whole of the law, the rest follows.
"You will not have any other gods before Me. Thou shalt not." Start with this directive above all. All else can go jump off a cliff.
[Well, and strict in tow is the 2nd commandment, which is tied to the first.]
1 comment:
Dear Bro. T.
The thought struck me that this teaching on "vanity" is a nice follow-up to your posting on the 8th. "It's Not About You, It's About HIM." Solomon did say in other places that the whole duty of man is to serve the Most High. I like reading the old testament. There's a lot there to grasp. When the Israelites unfortunately back-slid and started following the gods and practices of the heathens around them, the Lord punished them quite harshly like any concerned Father would. Lots of examples (warnings) of this in the Old Testament. So, and much more will others get punished too and especially for idolatry (which is worshiping the created instead of the Creator). The 10 commandments is a basic building block to start with. It's in 3 parts: The spiritual, the moral and finally its civil laws. However, on the other hand, looking at Leviticus and Deuteronomy, there is a total of around 614 ordinances, commandments, laws, precepts, statutes, judgements, decrees and etc. That's a lot which the Lord wants us to learn and follow too! To me this doesn't sound grievous, but seems like the right thing to consider, mediate on and try really really hard to practice. Enoch, Elijah and Ezra had these written in their hearts from birth; and that's why they were translated (never tasted death) by the Most High. Now, that's true and unadulterated righteousness!
Thanks again, Bro. T., for kicking my mind into high-gear..
Peace, love and the Lord's favor,
Roger
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