Monday, March 2, 2015
433 - Acceptions Made
Spirituality Column #433
March 3, 2015
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville
A person passingly familiar with the Bible could mistakenly think Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament contains scripture’s most dismal, depressing and hopeless message.
Repeatedly the book’s narrator, seemingly an aging, bitter King Solomon – but maybe not – instructs: “Everything is meaningless.” Every skill, trial, pleasure, success, labor, achievement and ambition – “everything under the sun” – is meaningless. Humanity is consigned to exist “dust to dust” (Eccl 3:20), we are only “chasing the wind” (Eccl 4:6), and live with “hearts full of evil (Eccl 9:3).
Ugh.
A person more familiar with ‘60s pop culture than biblical truth may very likely know that the lyrics to the Byrds’ 1965 No. 1 song “Turn, Turn, Turn (to Everything There is a Season)” are a direct lift from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. But the tune wasn’t written as a hymn; it was a 1950s peace anthem written by American folk musician, anti-war activist and 1940s Communist Pete Seeger. Lifted out of context, the lyrics intone a secular mission for mankind, not a call of praise and acquiescence to the will of God.
Good song, but “meaningless under the sun”; definitely not religious.
A true student of the Bible understands that Ecclesiastes is a brief but powerful statement of all creation’s ultimate truth: that only God’s glory is truly important. This is the narrator’s wisdom, not curmudgeonly bitterness. Only our actions that honor and reflect God’s will, glory and love make any lasting, eternal difference.
That’s a hard truth because I, we, all of us so desperately want to be important, make a difference, control destiny and work our own plan. Ecclesiastes tells us to forget it; God has the only plan.
And hallelujah! There are wonderful hints of God’s great plan for the salvation of mankind right there in Ecclesiastes, an Old Covenant text that stealthily foreshadows the coming New Covenant’s healing work of Jesus Christ that we learn about in the Gospels and New Testament.
For all that Ecclesiastes tells us “doesn’t matter,” and for all the earthly iniquities of both the righteous and the wicked – bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people (Eccl 8:14) – it also tells us that when we accept God’s authority, our ultimate gift of acceptance by Him is ours (Eccl. 9:7). What we learn later in the New Covenant is that Jesus Christ is that gift, and in Him we are accepted – fallen as we are – in His unending righteousness.
It’s shortsighted to dedicate our lives to “everything under the sun” when we can attain greater fullness of God’s Kingdom in Jesus Christ.
I swear it’s not too late.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) is aware that “acceptions” is not a real word; it just seemed to work here.
March 3, 2015
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville
Acceptions Made
By Bob WaltersA person passingly familiar with the Bible could mistakenly think Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament contains scripture’s most dismal, depressing and hopeless message.
Repeatedly the book’s narrator, seemingly an aging, bitter King Solomon – but maybe not – instructs: “Everything is meaningless.” Every skill, trial, pleasure, success, labor, achievement and ambition – “everything under the sun” – is meaningless. Humanity is consigned to exist “dust to dust” (Eccl 3:20), we are only “chasing the wind” (Eccl 4:6), and live with “hearts full of evil (Eccl 9:3).
Ugh.
A person more familiar with ‘60s pop culture than biblical truth may very likely know that the lyrics to the Byrds’ 1965 No. 1 song “Turn, Turn, Turn (to Everything There is a Season)” are a direct lift from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. But the tune wasn’t written as a hymn; it was a 1950s peace anthem written by American folk musician, anti-war activist and 1940s Communist Pete Seeger. Lifted out of context, the lyrics intone a secular mission for mankind, not a call of praise and acquiescence to the will of God.
Good song, but “meaningless under the sun”; definitely not religious.
A true student of the Bible understands that Ecclesiastes is a brief but powerful statement of all creation’s ultimate truth: that only God’s glory is truly important. This is the narrator’s wisdom, not curmudgeonly bitterness. Only our actions that honor and reflect God’s will, glory and love make any lasting, eternal difference.
That’s a hard truth because I, we, all of us so desperately want to be important, make a difference, control destiny and work our own plan. Ecclesiastes tells us to forget it; God has the only plan.
And hallelujah! There are wonderful hints of God’s great plan for the salvation of mankind right there in Ecclesiastes, an Old Covenant text that stealthily foreshadows the coming New Covenant’s healing work of Jesus Christ that we learn about in the Gospels and New Testament.
For all that Ecclesiastes tells us “doesn’t matter,” and for all the earthly iniquities of both the righteous and the wicked – bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people (Eccl 8:14) – it also tells us that when we accept God’s authority, our ultimate gift of acceptance by Him is ours (Eccl. 9:7). What we learn later in the New Covenant is that Jesus Christ is that gift, and in Him we are accepted – fallen as we are – in His unending righteousness.
It’s shortsighted to dedicate our lives to “everything under the sun” when we can attain greater fullness of God’s Kingdom in Jesus Christ.
I swear it’s not too late.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) is aware that “acceptions” is not a real word; it just seemed to work here.
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