Praise the Lord for this good day,
indeed a gift from the Lord. The Lord blessed us with a wonderful Wednesday
Evening gathering of fellowship and study. I spent part of the day yesterday
visiting some people. Laureen, Sunita, Andy, and Gabe are with us for the whole
week. It has been great blessing being together. We are enjoying spoiling Gabe
for these few days. We have also enjoyed some face time with Micah and Ada in
Boston.
A young couple that I married over
21 years ago, who now live in North Carolina, will be joining us lunch today.
They are blessed with three children including one adopted from China. They
love the Lord and serve Him with great joy.
Alice and I took a brisk walk last
evening, looking at some of the brilliant and colorful cloud formations. On the
way home we watched as there were many lightning flashes through one of the
cloud formations. Our garden by the house is bursting with all kinds of
vegetation. The Lord is good and His compassion never fails. I was looking at
Eugene Peterson's amazing rendition of Ecclesiastes 9:7-10:
"Seize life! Eat bread with
gusto,
Drink wine with a robust heart.
Oh yes—God takes pleasure in your pleasure!
Dress festively every morning.
Don't skimp on colors and scarves.
Relish life with the spouse you love
Each and every day of your precarious life.
Each day is God's gift. It's all you get in exchange
For the hard work of staying alive.
Make the most of each one!
Whatever turns up, grab it and do it! (Eccles. 9:7-10).
Drink wine with a robust heart.
Oh yes—God takes pleasure in your pleasure!
Dress festively every morning.
Don't skimp on colors and scarves.
Relish life with the spouse you love
Each and every day of your precarious life.
Each day is God's gift. It's all you get in exchange
For the hard work of staying alive.
Make the most of each one!
Whatever turns up, grab it and do it! (Eccles. 9:7-10).
This is a beautiful, bountiful
world, and we were designed to enjoy its beauties and blessings, so we must make
the most of every day. Derek Kidner says that
God alone "is the source of all the gifts of earthly life: its bread and wine,
festivity and work, marriage and love." Every blessing comes from the God of all
blessing, and therefore it should be received with thanksgiving and praise.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote: "Earth's crammed with heaven, And every common
bush afire with God; But only he who sees, takes off his shoes." Do you see all
the gifts that God has given to you, and then respond with holy praise?
For people who enjoy as many blessings as we
do, the words "Thank you, Father," should never be far from our grateful
lips.
This is especially true for
everyone who knows the grace of God through the saving work of Jesus
Christ. One of the best ways for us to enjoy
life with Jesus is by sharing in his blessings. All of the good things
mentioned in Ecclesiastes 9 symbolize the gifts
of his grace. Jesus gives us our daily bread (see Luke
11:3). He makes our hearts glad with the
bread and the wine of the Lord's Supper. He has anointed our heads with the
oil—the oil of the Holy Spirit. He has invited us to the wedding supper of
heaven, ( Revelation 19:7, 9). He has promised to give us
spotless white to wear in his eternal kingdom, where we will join the
celebration that never ends (see Revelation 7:9, 14).
In the meantime, Jesus has given us
good work to do—the work of his kingdom. We should do this work as well as we
can, for as long as we have the opportunity, because, as the Preacher of
Ecclesiastes reminds us, our days are numbered. Every earthly joy is the foretaste of a better life to come, in
the Heaven where God has promised us pleasures forevermore (Psalm
16:11).
In Christ,
Brown
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