CoffeeSwirls

I guess I'm a little unsure of the exact interpretation you use. My website name was inspired by Ecclesiastes, but I'm barely a novice scholar.

I understood Solomon to say that not just accepting your role, but *enjoying* it was a gift from God. In other words, trying to improve your lot is folly without God, but with God it's a gift to enjoy.

Solomon was lamenting about his unhappiness. He was the wisest man ever. He probably had the most beautiful wives in the world (as most were princesses from treaties and such.) Made the most money. Built the best Temple. Had the most horses and chariots. Reasoned better than any other human.

With his great wisdom came the ability to see his own demise due to his lack of walking with God. He didn't do any of the things to Glorify God. Most were out of selfish pride.

I especially like verses 3:15, 4:12 and 5:1 ...
5:1 is especially important to all of us. Most of the time we feel that we have the better insight into what a verse means or says... and when you read that verse, it says it all... Ecc 5:1 "As you enter the house of God, keep your ears open and your mouth shut! Don't be a fool who doesn't realize that mindless offerings to God are evil." Not that some insights are right on. But we don't have to speak up ALL the time unless God's Word is blantantly misused or misquoted. James talks about that one too in James 1:19-20 "19 My dear brothers and sisters, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. 20 Your anger can never make things right in God's sight." We tend to get prideful in what we have learned from God's Word.

It is extremely important that we don't put our well being ahead of worshipping God.

As a society, we spend a majority of our time memorizing worthless facts, statistics, lyrics, poems, Computer Speeds, bus speeds, RAM types, Car engine stats, tire performance, fruit nutritional value, grain value, soil content, air quality requirements, Green House gas emissions, Rain forest destruction rates (you finish here with your stats).

God made our brains so that we could use them to Glorify Himself. How many of us have Glorified God with our brains? Very simple process...
Instead of memorizing all the facts, try memorizing a new Bible verse or a snippet from the Bible that points people back to Jesus. Like say, Rom 1:11 and then tie it into a situation that someone is going through. No, I am not going to type it in, Go over to www.Biblegateway.com and look it up. OR Look up Rom 1:21-24.

I don't think Doug is saying don't work hard. He is saying that we should not work hard to make get ahead...

We should work hard to Glorify God and by that hard work, He that can, will reward us if it is HIS WILL.

I couldn't have said it better for either comment. Actually, Michael originally wrote what he said because the original title of the post was "Know your Role."

Simply put, I couldn't think of anything better last night. Thanks Michael for a better title. We should enjoy whatever place in life God has put us in, rich or poor, and not be jealous of another person's place.

I didn't mean for my comment to come across as a criticism; far from it, I enjoy coming here to learn. Apologies if it came off as something else.

Ecclesiastes has become my favorite book this year, and I just wanted to make sure my interpretations are correct. :)

You're cool. This whole thing started with my bad choice of a post title.