Thought for February 23, 2024

•  1455: Gutenberg prints his first Bible
• 1758: Jonathan Edwards receives a smallpox vaccination, contracts the disease and dies in March
• 1821: First U.S. pharmacy college formed in Philadelphia
• 1836: Siege of the Alamo begins
• 1886: Times of London publishes the first classified ad
• 1896: Tootsie Roll introduced
• 1904: U.S. buys control of Panama Canal
• 1940: "Pinocchio" released
• 1945: Marines raise the flag on Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima
• 1954: First mass inoculation with the Salk vaccine
• 1967: 25th Amendment adopted--Presidential succession
• 1985: Bobby Knight throws a chair during a game
• 2020: First Covid outbreak in Europe--152 cases in Italy
• Born: Samuel Pepys, George Frederic Handel, John Sutter, W.E.B. DuBois, Paul Tibbetts [Enola Gay], Tom Osborne, Peter Fonda, Ed "Too Tall" Jones, Michael Dell, Dakota Fanning
• Died: Polycarp, John Keats, John Quincy Adams, Edward Elgar ["Pomp and Circumstances"], Stan Laurel, James Herriot ["All Creatures Great and Small"]

Thought:

Reading Ecclesiastes 7:1-14 this morning. Solomon gives us several comparisons that lead to a better life. These really speak to me and my walk with the Lord.

• In 7:1, Solomon repeats a thought he expressed in Proverbs 22:1. There he said a good name was better than great riches. Here he says a good name is better than a good ointment or fine perfume. For me, maybe this should say that a good name is better than luxury. Most of our parents said to us that they gave us a good name and begged us not to mess it up. A good name endures, riches are temporary and perfumes lose their potency. For us, as Christians we should have a name for honesty, integrity, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness and gentleness. Maybe the best thing that has ever been said of me was when Federal Judge Tom Higgins announced in court that I did not need to be sworn in because he knew I would tell the truth. Satan offers us luxury in exchange for our good name---just like he offered Jesus the world. 
• The next statement in 7:1 is perhaps the one in this entire passage that really hits me--my death day is better than my birthday. Only in Jesus is that true. But just think with me about that statement. Am I living so that my death day will be better than the day I was born. When I was born, I faced a life of work, pain, disappointment, hunger, thirst, tears, sorrows. In Christ on my death day, I face an eternity of peace, joy, love, security, plenty, abundance. That fact should give me hope and encouragement for today. 
• 7:2 says a funeral is better than a party. Really? A funeral reminds us of God's faithfulness, His plan, His purpose, His grace. It requires me to consider the brevity of life and therefore to invest in the days the Lord has provided. It directs my thoughts to eternity. Hard to think of a funeral that way, but I think there is truth here. 
• 7:5-6 tell us that the discipline of the wise is better than the praise of fools. It explains why. The praise of fools is like the loud crackling of thorns in a fire--makes a lot of noice but produces no heat. On the other hand, the correction of the wise keeps us on the straight path.
• 7:10 is a great reminder to me--don't say the good ole days were better. Do you know some folks who are always talking about the good ole days. I find it interesting that sometimes I use the good ole days to tell my grandchildren how hard it was and how deprived we were back then---walked 2 miles uphill each way to school in the snow. With the next breath, I complain about how things have gone downhill. Maybe these are both right and reflect the real problem in my life and our nation---we have gotten financially and technologically more advanced while morally we have gone downhill. Perhaps the love of money has had its predicted results. 

Why is Solomon writing these things----he tried everything under the sun and found that the things eternal, the things of God are the things that matter. May I learn that lesson well.

Blessings

Larry