Comparison: A No Win Game

The Time Of Your Life

When you see time the way God sees time, only then will you make the most of your time. Ecclesiastes 1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem: “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them. I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.  I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind!  I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. What is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted. I said to myself, “Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.”  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. For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes 3:1-12 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, A time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, A time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, A time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, A time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. What do workers gain from their toil?  I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.  He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.  I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.

What Legacy Will We Leave As Parents?

Nothing has a greater impact on the direction and quality of a child’s life than their relationship with their parents.  Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

Here Is What I Want Most For My Kids

Sooner than you think your child will say or think: “I gotta get out of here and be on my own.” What do you want most for your kids as the journey out into life? Proverbs 3:5-7 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes.

Do My Concerns Match God's Concerns?

The Book of Jonah is a subversive short story that asks us a penetrating questions: do my concerns in life match God’s concerns for this world? Jonah 3:1-10 1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you." 3 Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a day's journey into the city, proclaiming, "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown." 5 The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. 6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7 Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh:     "By the decree of the king and his nobles:        Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish." 10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.   Jonah 4 1 But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the LORD, "Isn't this what I said, LORD, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live." 4 But the LORD replied, "Is it right for you to be angry?" 5 Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the LORD God provided a gourd [a [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jonah+4&version=TNIV#fen-TNIV-22581a]] and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the gourd. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the gourd so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live." 9 But God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the gourd?"        "It is," he said. "And I'm so angry I wish I were dead." 10 But the LORD said, "You have been concerned about this gourd, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern for the great city Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?"

Does God Hear My Desperate Prayers?

For many people it is in times of distress that we cry out to God and maybe even pray for the first time.  This message explores what God might be doing in these seasons of our life and how he will respond to our desperate prayers.  Jonah 2:1-10 1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. 2 He said:        "In my distress I called to the LORD,        and he answered me.        From the depths of the grave I called for help,        and you listened to my cry.  3 You hurled me into the deep,        into the very heart of the seas,        and the currents swirled about me;        all your waves and breakers        swept over me.  4 I said, 'I have been banished        from your sight;        yet I will look again        toward your holy temple.'  5 The engulfing waters threatened me,        the deep surrounded me;        seaweed was wrapped around my head.     6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down;        the earth beneath barred me in forever.        But you brought my life up from the pit,        O LORD my God.  7 "When my life was ebbing away,        I remembered you, LORD,        and my prayer rose to you,        to your holy temple.  8 "Those who cling to worthless idols        forfeit the grace that could be theirs.  9 But I, with a song of thanksgiving,        will sacrifice to you.        What I have vowed I will make good.        Salvation comes from the LORD."  10 And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.   Jonah 3:1-3 1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you." 3 Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh.