Don't Waste Opportunity to Serve God; Do Your Duty as Man

This is something that I wrote a few months ago... just thoughts...



Ecclesiastes 12
1Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
2While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:
3In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,
4And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low;
5Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:
6Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.
7Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
8Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.
9And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.
10The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.
11The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.
12And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
13Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
14For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

And so it tells us here that we are to be taking advantage of EVERY opportunity to serve God, because one day, those opportunities will be taken away from every one of us.
(Verse 1) In our youth, we are to Remember our Creator. The word REMEMBER in this verse does'nt mean to recall Him but it means to Fear Him and to Love Him. We are supposed to Honor Him as Our Master and Maker of All Things. It says that we are supposed to do this in our early years. Before Old Age sets in. That way, we will have established solid ground to build the rest of our lives on. God is that solid ground! Deuteronomy 6:5 says: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. Love God.
(Verses 2-5) These are all signs of time. Our bodies are subject to time. We will all grow old. Now in these verses it gives us examples of how the body gets old and what eventually will happen. When the keepers of the house shall tremble and the strong men shall bow themselves: It says that as we grow old, we will tremble when we walk and stoop over and will need the aids of other objects to hold us up. The grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of windows be darkened: We will lose teeth and have few or none and those of us who have vision, will start to lose it. And the doors shall be shut in the streets when the grinding is low: Our ears our subject to time. We will start to lose hearing. And he shall rise up at the voice of the bird: We will wake up early and not be able to sleep as long as we used to or might like to. And all the daughters of musick shall be brought low: We might lose our ability to speak clearly or to sing clearly or we might lose our voices completely. And the almond tree shall flourish: When an almond tree blossoms the blossoms on the tree arest of pure white. Almost like a grey tint to them. Our hair will fade and turn grey. And desire shall fail: Here it is talking about a loss of appetite. It is common for someone, during death, to not have an appetite. Now, when all of these things happen to ourselves, what do we start to do? We start looking for things that will help us. Things that will make life just a little easier. We have canes and walkers and wheelchairs and all means of transportation aids to help us out when we can't move like we used to. We have false teeth to help us chew and talk. We have glasses and contacts to help us see. We have hearing aids to help us hear. We even have medicine, to help us sleep! We have hair dye to hide our grey hairs. God is telling us here that if we seek Him while we are young if we know the way we are supposed to live from the start, you will not have to rely on anything but HIM! So how are you able to know the word without seeing it? How are you able to know the word through song without being able to hear? By building your life on the solid rock from the beginning! Matthew 7:24 says: Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.
(Verses 6-8) It says here that we are all subject to phyical death. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. Genesis 2:7 says: And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. God gives us life and God takes it away. What stops all of us from making use of our time here? It says in the next verse, that vanity is it. We are vain. PRIDE. We have too much pride. If we go to church an others see us, what will they think? If I stop going to the bars, what will my friends say? If I stop drinking, I'm not going to be seen as cool anymore. If I stop getting high, my friends are going to think I am a loser. I am going to lose social position in the whole community! I am going to be laughed at for this! I am going to lose friends for this! You may give up one or two friends for this journey, but you will have gained Jesus as your best friend. What a friend we have in Jesus!
(Verses 9-12) And through all of this sin and vanity, the preacher keeps on preaching. He keeps on because he knows that this is his duty. Matthew 5:14 says: Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Nobody will get out of this wold without hearing the word of God. He kept preaching. He knew that if he led even one person closer to Jesus Christ, that it would be worth it all.
(Verses 13-14) The wrath of God is great! Nobody shall escape His wrath. There is coming a great judgement. Everyone is going to be judged accordingly. Everything that you have done, everything that you have said and everything that you have even thought of is going to be judged against you. For God shall bring every work into judgement, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or wheter it be evil. There are no secrets with God. He knows all sees all and hears all! What you do on your weekends, He sees. What you do in your home, He sees. What you say on the telephone, He hears. What you say at school or at work or at a ballgame He hears and what you. Say it as quietly or as loudly as you want. He hears. And you will be held accountable. And If you are'nt one of His, you will be cast out of His sight forever. You will have no more chances. You will have no more pleas of salvation. Matthew 25:41 says: Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. To burn forever with Satan and every single person who has ever walked this earth and rejected Jesus Christ. Think of the pain that just a little burn on your hand or arm or foot causes. You can escape that fire. You can escape the grip of Satan. How do you do this? Fear God and keep His commandments for this is the whole duty of man. For what is the first and greatest commandment? Jesus said Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And if you love God, you would accept His gift of salvation. You would not show any pride and you would bow before everyone and say Jesus, here I am. You died for me and I am thankful. I want to spend eternity with you and escape that awful place called hell. I accept you now as my personal savior.