The Challenge 22 July, 2004
Doing great this week
personally. Work is not doing so
well...lot's of garbage happening at work that makes no sense to me. Last week was really good. As you know I did not want to go originally;
I don't know, just did not have a good feeling about going. Seemed like Deb should have gone instead of
me but they needed men so I went. Had a
great time. Really got some good
confirmation that I belonged there with the teens when a few of them told me so
personally and one young lady said so in worship one night. Also had a few other folks bless me that
week and was able to help a friend out by listening a few times. Overall, it was a good week. Great worship, great preaching and although
the teaching was also great it was a little short - I could have gone for
more. Back into the word pretty
regularly and praying more.
Investing
As with many weeks that I sit down
to write this devotional to you I am not quite sure what God wants to say to
you through this message. I just know
that God has laid on my heart a portion of scripture and that I'm supposed to
share it with you. I don't want to make
you feel that I'm winging these devotionals because I'm not... it's just that
sometimes I have the scripture in mind when I sit down to type and when I'm
done typing is when I see what the message really is and then I put a title on
it. That's really how it is today. A few weeks ago a guest pastor at our church
was talking and he brought up a scripture reference that he only hit on for a
mere moment... it's been living and active in my heart for the last two
weeks. I've often turned to this
scripture over that time just to read it again and again and I can't get it out
of my mind.
We seem, as a general rule, to be
"doing" a lot of different things with our daily lives. We invest ourselves in numerous different
things that take up our time, our talents, and our energy. We are proud of some of our accomplishments
and less proud of others... in other words some of our investments pay off for
us more than others and some are just down right failures. But what is our motivation for investing our
time, talents, and energy into these various activities? Where is your heart in this whole
picture? Are you doing things to make
your life easier, to make it easier on your family, to take that vacation and
relax, to get into a good college, to get yourself noticed? What is it that is motivating you?
There are things that you have to
do just to live... and your motivation is that if you don't do them you'll get
in some sort of trouble, right? But I'm
talking about those things you do where you have a choice. Some of you are working like insane people
at your job. You invest the majority of
your time, talent and efforts there.
Your heart is really invested in your job. Why are you doing it?
Praise? Ego? Honor? Money? You think you have to in order to maintain
some standard of living you've set up for your family? Maybe you just love your
work. It makes you feel important,
respected, and worthwhile? For some of
you it is a hobby of some sort or recreational activity. You spend hours doing these things but what
is your motivation for doing them, getting better at them and investing your
time and energy into them? In fact, you
could do this analysis with almost anything you do... why do you dress the way
you dress, why do you do the ministries you do? Why do I write this Challenge?
Am I looking for praise from people that I'm doing something good? Am I trying to prove that I'm a man after
God's own heart? Why am I investing my
time in this?
Most answers to these questions can
be traced back to satisfying some need or desire within your own heart. If I have a desire to give my kids a better
life than I had I might work like an insane man to make all kinds of money to
provide for them a better life than I had.
Thus satisfying my own heart. I
might have a strong desire to get away from the world and responsibilities so
to satisfy my desire I would go golfing or some other hobby to satisfy my
heartfelt desire. I might feel the need
to have attention from other people all the time in order for me to feel
important so I may dress a certain way or do certain things to satisfy that
need in my life as well. The point is
that we are all doing things - some good, some sinful - to satisfy our own
hearts. We are seeking to gratify some
desires within ourselves and we invest our time, talents and energy into
satisfying these desires. But what is
your motivation behind the desires? God
says,
"Do not lay up for yourselves
treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and
steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor
rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal." Matthew
6:19-20
I don't want to say that satisfying
the desires of your heart is bad in and of themselves. In fact, we've talked before that God put
some of those desires there into your heart.
I'm not saying that work, play, dressing, and doing ministry are bad
either. But what you have to do is
examine what is motivating you to do these things... are you lying up for
yourself treasures on earth or in heaven.
My contention is that the motivation behind your investment is the
determining factor of where your treasure will be "laid up".
The scripture that is on my heart is
the whole chapter of Ecclesiastes 2 and frankly the whole rest
of the book itself. The book, as most
of know, is the God inspired work of King Solomon and centers on the Hebrew
word hebel (pronounced heh'bel) and it is literally translated into the word
"vanity" which carries the meaning of "vapor" or
"breath"... the NIV translates this word as "meaningless". Now Solomon was a very wealthy man. When God asked him what he wanted Solomon
did not ask for riches, he asked for wisdom and because he did so, God blessed
him with wisdom and riches beyond his greatest desires. Solomon had everything any man could ever want:
knowledge, a great job, wine, women, song, money, land and anything he
wanted. He had all this world could
offer and more. In Chapter 2 of Ecclesiastes
Solomon writes about the motivations of his heart and what it brought him.
"I searched in my heart how to
gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay
hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under
heaven all the days of their lives. I made my works great, I built myself
houses, and planted myself vineyards. I made myself gardens and
orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made
myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove. I
acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house. Yes, I
had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem
before me. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the
special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female
singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of
all kinds. So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in
Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.
Whatever my eyes desired I did
not keep from them.
I did not withhold my heart from
any pleasure,
For my heart rejoiced in all my
labor;
And this was my reward from all
my labor." Ecclesiastes 2:3-10
He had everything. He tried to gratify his heart in every way
known to man: work, wine, song, money and any pleasure in the world he did not
"withhold" from his heart. We
know he had hundreds of wives and hundreds more concubines (other women). And
it said that his heart rejoiced in his labor... his heart seemed to be satisfied
from all this effort, all this investment, all this following after his hearts
desire. It even says that his
"heart being glad" was his reward for all this effort and investment
he was making to "gratify his own flesh".
He tells you what his motivation was
and what his reward for that motivation was. His motivation was to gratify his own desires/flesh and his reward
was that they were gratified and he rejoiced in that gratification. But, Do you get the sense
from this passage that Solomon would only be gratified and joyful for a short
time? Why would he have to go after
different things to gratify his heart all the time? Why would he have to try different things to fulfill that desire
within his flesh? Solomon goes on...
"Then I looked on all the works
that my hands had done And on the labor in which I had toiled; And indeed all
was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun."
Ecclesiastes 2:11
He goes on in verse 16...
"Since all that now is will be
forgotten in the days to come." Ecclesiastes 2:16
In continuing to talk about the
works of his own hands he says the following in various verses in Chapter 2
"for all is vanity" Ecc
2:17 and in verses 19, 20 and 23 he
repeatedly says "This also is vanity."
In other chapters of Ecclesiastes
he talks about the vanity or selfish work or toil and about Popularity and
basically anything you could strive for under the sun... He specifically
relates to all the things we do here now in this day and age and he is telling
us that if we are out to gratify our own hearts that it will be nothing in the
end...Vanity. He even
starts out in chapter 1 by saying...
"That which has been is what
will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new
under the sun." Ecclesiastes 1:9
There is nothing we can pursue that
has not been pursued before. Nothing we
can do to try and gratify our desires that have not been tried before. And, if we are trying to only gratify our
hearts then the end result will be vanity - meaninglessness.
The book of Ecclesiastes
is not all gloom and doom but it is about the motivation behind what you are
investing your time and energies into.
If you are only motivated with your heart then you will have your reward
here on earth and that reward will be fleeting and meaningless in the grad
scheme of things. But if you are
motivated by God and focused on eternity those are the things that last... they
are the treasures that can be laid up in heaven.
"For God gives wisdom and
knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight;" Ecclesiastes 2:26
"I know that whatever God does,
it shall be forever." Ecclesiastes 3:14
So, what are you investing in? Why?
Are you trying to gratify your own heart or are you really motivated to
seek out God? Are you gaining your
reward here on earth getting that quick "gratification" of your heart
or are you focused on the longer term reward and the treasure in heaven? All you build up here on earth, all your
works, all your toil, money, land, possessions, clothes, popularity, and
everything else is meaningless or vanity...
Solomon concludes with this and so
will I...
"Let us hear the conclusion of
the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments. For this is man's
all." Ecclesiastes 12:13
Until next week time ~ Dave
To make comments, to suggest topics you'd like me to tackle, to get past
devotionals, or to be added to this weekly "devotional email" please
write to: Dave Hansen at philip419@earthlink.net