"The Futility of Life"

  "There is another serious tragedy I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily on humanity. God give some people great wealth and honor and everything they could ever want, but then he doesn't give them a chance to enjoy these things. They die, and someone else, even a stranger, ends up enjoying their wealth! This is meaningless - a sickening tragedy.

 A man might have a hundred children and live to be very old. But if he finds no satisfaction in life and doesn't even get a decent burial, it would have been better for him to be born dead. His birth would have been meaningless, and he would have ended in darkness. He wouldn't even have had a name, and he would never have seen the sun or known his existence. Yet he would have had more peace than in growing up to be an unhappy man. He might live a thousand years twice over but still not find contentment. And since he must die like everyone else - well, what's the use? 

 All people spend their lives scratching for food, but they never seem to have enough. So are wise people really better off than fools? Do poor people gain anything be being wise and knowing how to act in front of others? 

 Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don't have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless - like chasing the wind." (Ecclesiastes 6:1-9 NLT)

  "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." (Philippians 4:8 KJV)

 What we might want to call this, "The Futility of Life," portion of the message, is something I would refer to as, "Stinking-Thinking", as my favorite motivational speaker might have called it. We have to think about the negative aspects of whatever comes ahead, as if it is just bound to happen; but the positive outlook is the thing which will actually motivate us to move forward, regardless of what might be ahead. 

 I don't claim to know all that much about a lot of things; but I do know the difference between what makes us stay at home, doing nothing, and what makes us take a chance to make a difference: Positive thinking! If you spend your thoughts on all of the negative parts of whatever task you have in mind, you will lose interest and never even give it any effort. 

 This might be one of the most common things that stop people from going into any sort of ministry, the things that are needed to make it work! What does it really require? There are only two things we need to make it begin to work: A calling, and the desire to go; after that, it's all about faith and the ability to trust God's directions! 

 If I could have made that right choice long ago, maybe things would have been different. Then again, God still has a way to make things right...

"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." (Romans 8:18 KJV)