Tag: life
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Chosen and Appointed
16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide…–John 15 (with emphasis) Jesus told the 12 that day that they were not the choosers, but instead were the chosen. Their existence as followers of Jesus was because Jesus chose…
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God Uses What’s There
8One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”–John 6 I remember my parents bought a children’s book version of this Bible story when I was a child. And I recall especially liking the…
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Fear and Desire
11Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. 12What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good? 13Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.14Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.–Psalm 34 When we…
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Life and Judgment
8So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity. 9Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your…
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Don’t Let Your Life Sag
18Through laziness, the rafters sag; because of idle hands, the house leaks.–Ecclesiastes 10 I am not a carpenter. I am not claiming any contractor, handyman, or professional woodworking status. So my opinion on these verses isn’t informed by any expertise in home repair. But please allow me to take one step back and say what…
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7 Hopes for the Living
4But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.–Ecclesiastes 9 Qoheleth’s point is easy. You who are still alive can do things. Even the greatest of the dead is still dead. So what are seven hopes to do good things we still have?…
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Two Choices, One Perspective
12Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him. 13But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God.–Ecclesiastes 8…
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Funeral Perspective
2It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart.3Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. 4The heart of the wise is in…
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Don’t Live for Your Appetite
7All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.–Ecclesiastes 6 I remember a time when my wife took me to a sushi buffet. It was expensive and so I ate until I was stuffed. I was so full that it hurt. I thought I even was going to get…
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Are You Teachable?
13Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice.–Ecclesiastes 4 The biblical Solomon started off as a young man asking for wisdom and ended up with this description… King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites.…
Joel M Bradshaw 