Beauty Perishes

Beauty perishes!

James 1:11”For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.”

For many years I did not get any flowers from any students, but few students who have joined recently started bringing me lovely, colorful, scented roses every day! I normally don’t much wear flowers in my hair; however, the twinkle in their eyes and love of the kids that come along with the roses presses me to wear the roses. Well, besides taking a couple of roses for me, I would distribute one each to my teachers as well; but still I had few remaining, by this time I got hooked to the flowers! Are you listening? So, I tried storing a few of them in the fridge, so that I can wear them the next day, alas, the flowers faded and lost their glow, they actually became useless! Flowers that come from a sunny garden, with a continual source of nutrition and water, once they are cut, temperature is a critical factor in getting them to bloom fully and hang around for a while! The petals sag, stem turns brown and the once awesome flower now looks pathetic; likewise, the Bible says, ‘the rich in his humiliation, like a flower of the grass he will pass away.’ (James 1:10) When we ignore God and His power and try to do things in our own power and might, we would wither away quickly! Caveat!

How dare we skip church, Bible, prayer and still expect God to bless us? The words, ‘the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits’, sent a chill up my spine! One might think, working for a bank would be a great thrill, but ironically, back while I worked for a multinational bank, I have seen enormous number of people actually go through severe financial crisis; two people in significant positions, committed suicide because of huge debts. Reckless spending, unwise financial planning, pursuit of worthless pleasures and lusting for opulence are some of the reasons for the catastrophe in their lives.

In hot pursuit for overseas jobs - which they think would solve all their problems - I have watched numerous number of highly educated youth, get into huge financial commitments but alas they eventually lose everything when the much hyped job in foreign soil doesn’t work out, when visa gets rejected or business proposal fizzle out. My conundrum is why do smart, double graduates fail to analyze things wisely? Even after all the loss, they fail to repent, fail to look at their foolish endeavors but keep hunting for the next gold mine! This morning I preached to my school children on this particular scripture, here it is: “…a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.”(Ecclesiastes 10:1) Is it not true?

The author of the book Ecclesiastes is none other than king Solomon, son of David. Boy, can anyone be so foolish as to forego the blessings of God for a bunch of pagan women? How foolish can this guy get who had once relished and tasted the abundant love of God himself? Peter warned in 1 Peter 2:11 “….the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.”

Did you read that, ‘wage war against your soul?’ Don’t flirt with your life!