eccelsiastes

30daysofpraise, Bible, bible study, Christian, Christian Church, christian encouragement, christian men, christian parenting, Christian women, Faith, god, Jesus, Jesus Follower, prayer, proverbs, religion, scripture, Uncategorized, wisdom

Enjoying A Wisdom Filled Life

October 10, 2026October 2, 2026 krisshetter

First published April 15, 2024 as part of the Enjoy Life: from meaningless to meaningful series

A teenager asked his father if he could go to an unsupervised party where there would surely be drinking. He denied his request. “Aw Dad, why not?” he complained. “I’m in high school now!” Dad replied: “Because some will drink and the party could get out of control.” “But, Dad, those are just very small parts of the party! “My answer is ‘no,’ and that is my final answer. You are welcome to stay home tonight, invite some of your friends over. But you will not go to that party. End of discussion.”

The teenager walked dejectedly into the family room and slumped down on the couch. As he sulked, he was surprised to hear the sounds of his father preparing something in the kitchen. He soon recognized the wonderful aroma of brownies baking in the oven, and he thought, “Dad must be feeling guilty, and now he’s going to try to make it up to me with some fresh brownies. Maybe I can soften him up with lots of praise when he brings them out to me and persuade him to let me go to that party after all.”

The teen was not disappointed. Soon his father appeared with a plate of warm brownies. He took one. Then his father said, “Before you eat, I want to tell you something: I love you very much. That is why I’ve made these brownies from scratch with the very best ingredients. The best stone-milled flour. The best free-range eggs. The best organic pure cane sugar. Premium vanilla and the finest chocolate.” The brownies looked mouth-watering.

“There is one ingredient not normally found in brownies. I only added a tiny amount, so small you probably wouldn’t even notice. Go ahead and try one.”

“Dad, what is the mystery ingredient before I eat it?” the teen asked. Dad answered, “Why? The portion I added was so small. Just a teaspoonful. You won’t even taste it.” The teen said, “Come on, Dad; just tell me what it is.”

“Well, OK, if you insist. That secret ingredient is organic…dog poop.” The teen instantly dropped his brownie back on the plate and began inspecting his fingers with horror. “DAD! Why did you do that? You’ve tempted me by making me smell the brownies cooking for the last half hour, and now you tell me that you added dog poop! I can’t eat these!”

Dad smiled. “Why not? It’s only a tiny amount compared to everything else in the brownies.”

It won’t hurt you. It’s been cooked right along with the other ingredients and you won’t even taste it. Go ahead and eat it.” His son replied, “No, never.”

The wise dad continued, “And that is the same reason I won’t allow you to go to that party. You won’t tolerate a little dog poop in your brownies, so why should you tolerate a little immorality in your life? We pray that God will not lead us unto temptation. So how can you in good conscience entertain yourself with something that could easily get you into trouble?”

The teenager lowered his head, then looked up at his Dad. He smiled. He finally understood. He never did go to high school parties where there was drinking.

Ah, the wisdom of a father. Don’t most parents wish and hope we can provide such clever and wise examples to their children? And best of all, they listen and obey? But alas, so much wisdom dispensed, even to us, falls on deaf ears. We know better and usually think we can do better than the person trying to save us from heartache or hardship.

The Old Testament can be broken into four categories of books. The Pentateuch (the first 5 books), Israel’s history, the prophets, and then wisdom. Two entire books, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, have as their focus the topic of wisdom. It must be something God finds very important in the lives of us humans. Yet, wisdom and the enjoyment of having a life filled with it, seems so elusive to many.

We all have that family member, friend, neighbor, co-worker or acquaintance who causes us to scratch our heads each time they make yet another disastrous decision. A decision that looks a lot like the same mistake they made last time when they sloughed off good advice. Or maybe that person is…you.

Much of the wise advice we hear throughout our lives has its roots somewhere in the book of Proverbs, authored mostly by King Solomon. In Ecclesiastes 7 & 8, he goes on to remind us to seek wisdom but that wisdom, by itself, is not to be the end-goal. He should know. Having asked God to grant him the wisest mind, he eventually managed to really mess up his life pursuing all manner of fleshly desires of which his gift of wisdom afforded him by becoming a wealthy king. He became the poster boy for “do as I say, not as I do.”

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” Proverb 9:10

Had he followed his own wise counsel he might have produced offspring that didn’t want to betray him or destroy the kingdom once they were in power. It’s a good lesson to learn when we dispense wisdom to our fellow, earthly travellers. As Jesus once reminded us, remove the log out of your own eye before you comment on the speck of another.

All that aside, it appears that at the end of Solomon’s life he recognized so many of his faults, sins or indiscretions. The result was his study of life in Ecclesiastes. And with that we get such wonderful pearls as:

‘For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.” Ecclesiastes 7:12

If there is one thing, after seeking Christ, that we should pursue throughout life, it is wisdom. It’s not easily gained. Often, gaining wisdom requires suffering first. Isn’t that what we so often try to impart to others? How to avoid pain, suffering, loss by taking our hard-earned advice?

“It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.” Hebrews 12:7-8

Like the son in the brownie story all of us need discipline sometime in our lives. It’s the first step in wisdom seeking. The person who learns from their mistakes or experiences (or others’) gains one step closer to being wise. One step closer to living a peaceful, joy-filled life.

“None of us can come to the highest maturity without enduring the summer heat of trials.” Charles Spurgeon

“The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.” Ecclesiastes 7:4

Solomon isn’t telling us in the above verse to not have a good and happy life. What he is saying is our seeking joy and happiness at all costs is a shallow goal and not wise. When our yearning for closeness to God can only be satisfied during joyful times, we miss out on the richness that tough times can bring.

Life, as we all know, isn’t all rainbows and unicorns. As he has said throughout Ecclesiastes, life is frequently about toiling and repetitiveness. Wisdom is rarely sought and found while we are whooping it up at a party.

Wisdom is found before we enter the door and remember the terrible hangover we had that last time. Or the fight you and your spouse got into because of inappropriate behavior at the neighborhood BBQ. Or even maybe the DUI your friend got when you drove home together. When we brush all that aside for a “good time,” we’ve entered into the land of folly.

Wisdom is gained by remembering. Remembering the wise words shared with you. Remembering the results of poor decisions, either by yourself or someone you know.

Wisdom isn’t just knowledge. My mother-in-law was a very wise person. She didn’t go to college, she didn’t have some big shot important job. She was a mom, a sometimes employee at dress shops and florists. She was a devoted Christian and a ready-hand at many volunteer events. She was creative and quick-witted. And she dispensed wisdom with ease. Wisdom gained from a dirt poor childhood with an alcoholic dad. From watching her brother make one bad decision after another ending up on drugs and in jail. She didn’t need self-help books to know about life, she lived it and remembered it.

“To know is not to be wise. To know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.” Charles Spurgeon

Friend, in this first look at wisdom let’s make a good evaluation of our own lives. Are we enjoying a life of wisdom or are you continuing to make the same bad decisions? Are you saying “talk to the hand” when someone who has wise words wants to impart them to you? Do you brush aside past mistakes as Solomon did thinking things will be different this time? Have you prayed, as King Solomon did, to the Lord asking for wisdom, in each and every aspect of your life?

Wisdom will keep you from the extremes, as Solomon reminds us in Ecclesiastes verse 7:9 It will preserve you, your good name Ecc 7:1, your family and other relationships. Seek first to be obedient to God and then ask Him for insight and wisdom.

I want to leave you today with a prayer that many may be familiar with written by theologian Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971), called the Serenity Prayer.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
forever in the next.
Amen.

Enjoying A Wisdom Filled Life Part Two now available! Click here

Enjoying The Enough Life

October 8, 2026September 30, 2026 krisshetter

First published April 8, 2024 as part of the Enjoy Life: from meaningless to meaningful series

In 2014, researcher and Contentment Foundation founder Daniel Cordaro took a team of researchers to the remote area of the Himalayas in Eastern Bhutan. Their subjects were 200 nomadic families who had never been contacted by outsiders. It was to be the final look into a 5-year, cross-cultural study of how people identify and react to a long list of emotions. Upon showing the villagers dozens of facial and vocal expressions, even having been cut off from the rest of the world, they recognized the vast majority of emotions with accuracy. However, it was one emotion that elicited a different response to the norm. That emotion was contentment. Their guide, Dr. Dorji Wangchuk, stopped for a moment when they reached that word.

“In our culture, this emotion is very special. It is the highest achievement of human well-being, and it is what the greatest enlightened masters have been writing about for thousands of years. It’s hard to translate it exactly, but the closest word is ‘chokkshay’, which is a very deep and spiritual word that means ‘the knowledge of enough.’ It basically means that right here, right now, everything is perfect as it is, regardless of what you are experiencing outside.”

This explanation by Dr. Wangchuk brought chills to Cordaro who goes on to say in his story of this experience, “No matter where I went on planet earth, all of the cultures I interacted with revered contentment as one of the highest states to cultivate in life. Yet in the West, we were obsessing about happiness—and feeling more anxious, depressed, and stressed.”*

While Mr. Cordaro may have decided through his research that “happiness” rather than contentment is a relatively new goal which rears its head mainly in western society, I would argue it’s actually been around for a very long time. You only need to turn to Ecclesiastes 6, indeed much of Ecclesiastes itself, to see pleasure seeking or happiness sits atop many people’s motivation in life.

“If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life’s good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he…even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?” Ecclesiastes 6:3 & 6

King Solomon would relate to this prosperous man; it might even be a reflection of the King himself. A man who amassed riches, property, wives, children, slaves, food, and wine. Yet was drawn to study the meaningless life. A life much the opposite of those Himalayan nomads.

A 2016 survey by YouGov asked Americans whether they would rather achieve great things or be happy. 81% said they would rather be happy. Despite the widespread pursuit of happiness, people struggled to define it or achieve it.** And I ask you, on a daily basis are you seeking happiness or contentment? Are you seeking to feel the emotion that pleasure provides or resting in the peace of enjoying “enough?”

“Better what the eye sees than the roving of the appetite. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” Ecclesiastes 6:9

The “I need to do and seek out what makes me happy” hasn’t really worked out that well for us humans. It’s a life led by self-fulfillment and fleeting emotions. Back a few years when I decided to seek happiness, I went about it working hard at changing myself. I needed to be less, I suppose, like me and more like people who appeared happy with loads of friends. The problem was I was still me. I was still filled with sinful thoughts and behaviors, most of which I couldn’t see or didn’t want to.

“You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” James 4:2-3

Through study of God’s Holy Word, I finally had my “aha moment.” I was seeking with the wrong motive. What I needed to seek was joy and contentment, not how to be happy. Why? Because desiring happiness didn’t mean to love others, rather just myself. It meant getting what I wanted, not what God wanted of me. It led me to covet and be jealous of those who seemed “happier.”

In the late 1800s, Russian author Leo Tolstoy experienced his own profound revelation when seeking the meaningful life. Born to aristocrats, he had all that wealth could provide. He ran in highly intellectual circles debating the politics and issues of the day. And for all that upper-class privilege he once stated,

“My life came to a standstill. I could breathe, eat, drink, and sleep, and I could not help doing these things; but there was no life, for there were no wishes the fulfillment of which I could consider reasonable… had a fairy come and offered to fulfill my desires I should not have known what to ask.”

In the course of events Tolstoy became involved with a group of Russian peasants. What he witnessed was a hard life. One with heavy, daily labor. And they were content. They, he said, knew the meaning of life and death and labored quietly. They endured deprivations and suffering. They lived and died seeing the good.

So how do we achieve this state of contentment? Must we cast off all our hard-earned wealth? Sell our homes and become Himalayan nomads? Become like John the Baptist and wear rough clothing and eat bugs?

“Enjoying life is a matter of character, not circumstance.” Booker T. Washington

Like so many lessons gifted by God, the hard won path to contentment is not about our outward appearance. If it were, the successful business person would be doomed. Yet success, from a wealth perspective, is not seen in the Bible as something to be disabused. It is only seen as causing potential difficulty for the believer. It wasn’t the prince’s wealth that caused him not to be able to follow Jesus. But rather his clinging to it for his happiness. (Matt 19:21-22) His character was filled with greed and pride.

In the completed study by Cordaro he found there were two views of what people think makes for a contented life. The first he called the “More Strategy.” It’s that view of the western happiness mindset. More money, more stuff. The problem, he found, was once you got more, that feeling of happiness drifted away like the mist.

The second approach is the “Enough Strategy.” It’s when people look inward to find the happiness. He poured through thousands of years of ancient wisdom traditions and found that the ancients almost never used the word “happiness.” More than 90 percent of the time, they used the word “contentment,” and described it as a state of “unconditional wholeness,” regardless of what is happening externally.

The unfortunate diagnosis by Cordaro however, is that somehow we can become whole all by ourselves. It’s the same mindset of modern, secular psychology and thousands of self-help books. He didn’t research which ancient wisdom traditions were successful at this goal and how. If he had, he might have discovered Jesus, who offers something far deeper than self-generated contentment. The Christian hope is not that we become whole through our own efforts, but that we are made whole through Him. The knowledge of enough ultimately begins with recognizing that, in Christ, we already have what matters most.

Enjoying The Enough Life Part Two now available! Click here.

*Excerpt from Greater Good Magazine, May 27, 2020 What If You Pursue Contentment Rather Than Happiness?

**BBC’s Nat Rutherford

Enjoying Life’s Possibilities

October 7, 2026September 30, 2026 krisshetter

First published May 6, 2024 as the last in the Enjoy Life: from meaningless to meaningful series.

I’m going to be completely honest with you, my friend. Today’s post was to be what the British call “a bit of a fob off.” You see, I had always planned to write the last look at Ecclesiastes after I returned from a 10-day trip to see my daughter and grandkids. With a five-month-old infant and a sports-obsessed two-year-old, writing simply wasn’t possible during my visit. Let’s just say this 59-year-old grandma (Guga as I’m affectionately called) passes out from exhaustion about 8:30pm each night after a day of bottles, diapers, up and down the stairs, laundry, baseball, football, golf, hockey, and little bits of quiet snuggling in between. I love every single bit of it.

So here I was back home ready to jump in to the wise words of King Solomon. And I started feeling ill. After just a few days home I became so delirious and short of breath that I caused myself a full-blown panic attack one night thinking I was dying. My husband managed to get me to the doctor where I tested positive for Influenza. I can’t remember the last time I had the actual flu. A flu that then turned into pneumonia — which is why I didn’t seem to be getting better. My hopes of feeling up to writing even a few lines were put way, way back on the burner.

But through the blessings of the Lord, I was put on new medications just yesterday. I now have a veritable neighborhood pharmacy on my counter. And although walking from one room to the next still seems a bit like I’ve tried tackling the 213.7 mile John Muir Trail with my friend Betsy, I can feel my body recovering. So instead of “fobbing off” and writing a placeholder, here I am through God’s providence, jumping into wisdom and life and the wonderful meaning of it all.

“However, many years anyone may live, let them enjoy them all. But let them remember the days of darkness, for there will be many.” Ecclesiastes 11:8

You see, even in my darkest moments when I was really sick I was remembering some important things about this life. That I don’t know how it all works but God does. Ecclesiastes 1 reminded us that although we are made in God’s image, He still is the ultimate creator and has more power and knowledge than we can ever hope to amass.

“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.” Ecclesiastes 1:10

I also allowed myself to ask why God doesn’t fix things immediately at my whim or even pleading? Which, of course, reminded me of the famous Ecclesiastes 3 scripture:

“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,”Ecclesiastes 3: 1; 2-3

After my 4am panic attack and my husband had calmed my breathing, I laid back in bed thinking, “Is this what it will be like in the end? At my final moments? Worried and panicked? Clawing to hold on to one more day of this life?”

When we looked at Ecclesiastes 9, we ran head first into the only truth no one can deny, no matter how hard they try. “The same destiny overtakes us all.” (vs 3). And yet we cling so hard and forget about the other truth the people of this world want to deny – we have hope for those who believe. We have an eternal place where God has a plan for justice. Where He has brought every single one of our loved ones, who also believe, to live with us forever and ever. Nothing left behind but sin and strife and pain and death.

My friends, if we accept that death is our future and as Solomon told us in verse 9:12, “No one knows when their hour will come,” we must take all that he says in wisdom in his last chapters 11 and 12 to heart.

“As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things. Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.” Ecclesiastes 11:5-6

The New Testament repeats the same message: know God, love God, trust God, and obey Him. We are not God. We barely understand the present moment, and often struggle to remember yesterday, let alone see tomorrow.

There’s a trend on Instagram where very talented photographers stop average looking strangers on the street and ask to take their picture. The people (usually women) tell the photographer all the reasons why they are not worthy of having a photo taken of them. One adult woman with fairly new braces said she would start smiling once her braces came off. In what — two or three years? And yet her brace-filled pictures were gorgeous!

Are you waiting to smile until something better happens in your life? Until the right person comes along? The right job? The right bank account? That “happiness” seeking roller coaster that Solomon warned us about in Ecclesiastes 6. It’s a joy killer. It may look like seeking meaning but it all becomes so meaningless.

“Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body,” Ecclesiastes 11:9-10

Solomon tells us, “go!” Try that new hobby or skill. Actively seek out new friendships and opportunities. Tell your friend or family member how much God loves them – today. Stop waiting until you get to the point where there’s no longer time, but also remembering all along who you belong to – our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Not hedonism as we looked at chapter 10 and the Right Side of Life. That’s meaningless folly. True joy, true enjoyment comes from knowing and listening to the Lord and stepping onto the narrow path.

I read a quote recently that went something like this:

“Trusting God is like being married to adventure but if you are looking for an excuse, you will find one.”

In other words, if you truly trust in the Lord for His love and provision. If you truly believe you are a beloved and beautiful daughter or son of God then He wants you to enjoy this short life He’s given you on this little blue planet.

This ancient book of wisdom on the surface seems like the last place to go to for this inspiration. I mean reminding us from beginning to end we will all die…a real party conversation killer. But sprinkled throughout this truth are the six reminders to “Enjoy Life.” Enjoy life while fearing the Lord and keeping His commands (Ecc 12:13). King Solomon did a bit too much of the first and forgot the second until towards the end of his life. He’s pleading with you hear his God-given words now.

I read this article by editor and founder Joanna Gaines in my most recent copy of Magnolia magazine. I realized it was a great way to end this series studying Ecclesiastes and the meaning of life. Especially for those of you who struggle with life’s changes, the good and the frequently not so good. We may want to retreat, go back to the old. We pray for God to remove the struggle and the pain. And it might get us stuck. Stuck in bad habits, unhealthy relationships, or the lie that nothing will ever change. Stuck believing God has no better plan ahead. Stuck in the lie that your personal cycle of life will just keep plugging away, never changing and never ending. Which keeps us far from the concept of joy and enjoyment. Listen to this excerpt from Mrs. Gaines’ essay titled, “Space to See Possibility” (spring 2024).

“When life swung, for the first time I didn’t hold my breath. I stood tall. I looked around. I worried less what was changing now and instead looked forward to what it could give way to the next. I asked myself, “What beautiful thing can come from this? What did I learn that can carry me forward?” And I came to realize that it’s the aftermath that’s the most formative. It was how we landed, how we let what was different be its own kind of beautiful. It was how we reset, changed course, and believed in the goodness to come.”

As my head has started to clear from my illnesses – my dizziness is dissipating and my vision is clearing – I look back over how often I sought the Lord. How often I thanked Him for seemingly endless boxes of Kleenex, soft sheets, a comfortable bed, doctors, pharmacists, drug inventors and scientists, friends, clean water, my husband and daughters, and more. I pleaded but I didn’t know if I would be healed or when. I felt terrible yet, still I knew my life is good. A life to enjoy even in the least enjoyable moments. Because that’s what our faith gives us. Head scratching, oppositeness from the world. A life of meaning.

My friend, I hold out my hand to you asking you to join me on this great adventure called Jehovah, God, Jesus, Elohim, Holy Spirit. Ask Him today, “What’s next?” and go enjoy.

Coat of the Holy Spirit

October 4, 2026September 30, 2026 krisshetter

First published March 3, 2025 as part of the On Being Sanctified series

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Romans 5:1-4

As I’m writing this my BSGs (Bible Study Girls) are working in the book “Now and Not Yet,” by Ruth Chou Simons. We’ve just completed a week-long study on Joseph’s life found in Genesis 37-50. Joseph’s story is one of those known by believers and non-believers far and wide, mostly because of that coat. You know the one – of many colors that his dad Jacob made for him. That coat became a visual reminder of Joseph’s favored son status amongst his brothers.

Most of us know Joseph’s story: his jealous brothers sell him into slavery after he shares a dream about ruling over them. In Egypt, he rises in Potiphar’s household but is falsely accused and thrown into prison. Yet God continues to favor him. After interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams of coming abundance and famine, Joseph is placed in charge of Egypt’s food supply. Years later, his brothers come seeking food, unaware they are standing before Joseph himself. The story culminates in forgiveness and reconciliation.

At the end of the study week, three things stood out to me: 1) Even in the worst, he made it the best. 2) We don’t hear of God telling Joseph what to do. And 3) Joseph’s walk with God seemed woven into who he was.

I pointed out to the ladies that the first time you even hear Joseph speak God’s name is when he rebuffs the wife. He said it would be a wicked and sinful thing against God. After that even in jail while interpreting dreams, you don’t get Pauline-like statements about suffering and perseverance for God. But when asked by Pharaoh if he could interpret the dreams he said, “I cannot, but God will give Pharaoh the answers.” And when Joseph finally revealed who he was to his brothers he made the amazing statement, “And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.” Genesis 45:5

From favored son to dropped into a well to die. From slavery to Pharaoh’s trusted servant. From betrayed to forgiving. Joseph had God embedded so deeply in him that each trial, each good thing, was of God. It was as though he wore God as a comfortable, favorite coat.

You have to think as the years went by while in Egypt, he thought of the brothers who tried to kill him. As he sat rotting in jail for years, of that beautiful, multi-colored coat. We now can read the full story, but Joseph himself never knew what was to come. He only knew God was with him.

Raise your hand in all honesty if you would be plotting your revenge or how you would turn your backs on your family (or friends or neighbors or fellow church members) after being treated so terribly. All the while waiting to hear God’s voice telling you what to do or how to feel about it all.

When the time came to stand face to face with his brothers it wasn’t anger and bitterness that he expressed. He could look back at the betrayal of Potiphar’s wife and how it led him to years in jail all to be worked out by God. He saw how God had used even his slavery to save countless lives. God didn’t have to reveal some new great truth to him. He slipped easily into wearing God’s goodness in the trials. He saw that God was sovereign, and he trusted Him. God was teaching him to persevere, leading him up to redeeming his family with forgiveness.

We’re the fortunate ones to have the entire story of the Bible laid out in front of us. We get to see the work of an even greater Joseph – Jesus. We see how His Father asked Him to wear a different coat – – one lined with all the blackness of our sins. His suffering and perseverance redeemed all humanity. His gift to us? The Holy Spirit residing in us for our time here in this world. So like Joseph we too can wear the living God each day. We wear a majestic, wise, and powerful inner coat: the very presence of God’s Spirit within us. Having Him be a natural way of life for us – obeying, trusting and persevering.

Friends, we were sanctified by the blood of Jesus. Giving us justification to stand before God in peace. He has clothed us in white, having removed that dark punishment of death. We are being sanctified right now by the Holy Spirit guiding us through the hatred or lack of love we experience, the lies told about us, the tragedies and trials. He bathes us each in God’s glorious light that we might shine it out to the world! And what is all this for? We will experience our final sanctification when we are glorified and the purple robes of kings are placed on our shoulders. When we face our LORD and He says to us, “Welcome home, good and faithful servant!”

“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:2.

Until then, God purifies us. He is making you holy, “hagiasmos” or set apart. Walk like Joseph through your day, wearing not that cheap, shiny, sparkly coat of the world, but rather the coat which envelopes you inside and out with the Holy Spirit. He will make you more valuable than any favored, earthly treasure. He will clothe you in something more precious than gold.

This week’s question: What’s been the most confusing or challenging part of your Christian journey?

Bible, bible study, Christian, Christian Church, christian encouragement, christian men, christian parenting, Christian women, Faith, god, Jesus, Jesus Follower, prayer, proverbs, religion, Transformation Prayer, Uncategorized, wisdom

Enjoying The Cycle Part Two

March 20, 2024March 16, 2024 krisshetter

Did you miss part one? Go to Enjoy Life: From Meaningless to Meaningful

When my own, beautiful and kind mother-in-law was on her final journey to death our family was blessed to not only weep but laugh, to mourn and to dance (vs 4). We experienced great love and healing. Immense sorrow and pain. On what, we discovered the next morning, was to be her final night, I was blessed to be the one to check in on her about 2:00am and give her the last dose of pain medication. I sat by her side yearning to beg her to not leave me. Yet, I knew that was unfair. It would soon be her appointed time to go to the Father, to have her earthly, cancer-ridden body die. So, I held her warm hand and laid my head against her slowly beating heart. A final gift for both of us. For me to remember her until my last day.

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you may talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit— immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.”
CS Lewis

We will all die. For some it may seem too soon or too tragic. It’s the opposing truth to Satan’s statement, “Surely you will not die.” The question is, for whom shall you live? There are no “ordinary” people walking around as Lewis points out. They are either children of God or of the devil. That is where our end lies. That is why, as children of God, we should feel a sense of urgency to share the saving message of Jesus Christ. To share His message of pilgrimage, not prison. It is not a game of “what if” we are playing but of when.

Solomon asks, “For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?” Our daily toil for things other than God is wiped away in the cycles of life. No one will care about the wealth or things you amass or how many rungs you fought for on the corporate ladder. Or even how good you were at keeping your house. They will remember your faithfulness to living in the fruit of the spirit – with love, kindness, gentleness. They will remember that you helped bring them out of darkness. But best of all God, Himself, will remember your love and obedience to Him and count you righteous.

According to the atheist, life comes spontaneously out of the cosmic slime. All life springs from inert or nonliving matter. Life comes from non-life through evolution. Our origin, in other words, is out of death. Since there is no life after death, our destiny is death. What then is the point or value of life? Life is merely an unnecessary chance interruption in the midst of cosmic death. For the believer, on the other hand, God is our creator. We are given the gift of life. Our destiny in Christ is eternal life. Death is merely a very temporary interruption in the midst of cosmic life. “
Arthur W. Lindsley

To think that “this is it” or to imagine heaven just being a cozy little village lends itself to leading the “meaningless life.” But God is a god of hope. He is the promise keeper. And His Word calls for us to live a life looking forward to being with Him in all eternity. Surrounded by love and light. We are not Gnostics. We don’t seek death and the release of our useless bodies. We are children of the God who gave us physical bodies to live in a physical world as a temporary station to hone us, to mold us, to prune us into the new Adams and Eves. And God wants every single one of us healed and to come home.

Death comes to us all. Let’s enjoy this earthly life we have, for however long, preparing us and others for our eternal home.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33