“Learn the lesson – be wise!”
Ecc. Part 13
Opening Illustration: From Blue fish TV “Wake”
The lesson from the timer:
What happens in 30 minutes?
Have a timer with on the pulpit – set it for 30 minutes in front of everyone. The lesson from the timer is what motivated Solomon to write the book of Ecclesiastes because time was running out for him and for many others. It made him think about eternity and where he was going. The lesson from the timer is this for us today: Have you ever thought what happens in a 30 minute time frame in the world?
“Mission Maker Magazine”, page 18, Edition 2008, (www.WorldChristianDatabase.org).
*7,764 souls began life in the world in the last 30 minutes
*3,444 souls meet Jesus face-to-face in the world in the last 30 minutes
*3,420 baptisms occurred in foreign mission in the world in the last 30 minutes
*$1,311,888 dollars were given to foreign missions in the world in the last 30 minutes
*10,896 people migrated internationally in the world in the last 30 minutes
*402 children became homeless or family-less in the world in the last 30 minutes
*2,275 rural poor migrated to cities in the world in the last 30 minutes
*1,140 people moved into urban slums in the world in the last 30 minutes
*68 people began supporting themselves only by collecting garbage in the world in the last 30 minutes
*1,375 children under age five died from preventable starvation related causes in the world in the last 30 minutes
*10 Christians died for their faith witness in the last 30 minutes
Summary of what we have learned so far from Solomon the wise.
What we learned from chapter 1:Life is a burden and meaningless without God
Is the life we live meaningless? Do people live meaningless lives? The answer is “Yes” for some people and “No” for others. The truth is some people do live meaningless lives. But the answer is an absolute “no” if you are a believer in Jesus Christ and you are living for God.
Life is meaningless and senseless without the presence of God in our lives. When we strive to live for ourselves we will soon discover that life is senseless and filled with emptiness day after day.
Life will become a heavy burden if we try to live it without God – many have discovered the tragedy of a life without God’s intervention and guidance. It has lead far too many to the point of suicide to the point of nervous breakdowns and to mental institutes and counselors.
Psalm 90:12 (NLT) “Teach us to make the most of our time…and make our efforts successful. Yes, our efforts successful!”
What we learned from chapter 2: Sensual pleasures lack any eternal value or meaning when they are done outside of God’s boundaries.
What is wrong with the pursuit of pleasure? Answer: It will become a tyrannical god – an idol that will never satisfy – it will never bring eternal meaning to your life.
Sensual pleasures lack any eternal value or meaning when they are done outside of God’s boundaries. They will leave you empty in the end and they will leave you deserted because their momentarily flash of excitement will be crushed under the reality of truth in the end.
Great building and work projects may create a visible structure and seem pleasurable to do but this structure will decay and collapse one day, your hard work will disappear over time as the forces of nature and life erode it away. They have not eternal lasting value because they will crumble under the pressure of time and life.
The acquiring and the pleasure of materialistic things of value will in the end have no value because when you die you cannot take them with you. Even after you buy something brand new it will lose its appeal after a short timeframe. If you hoarded them for yourself then in the end they lose their eternal value and all that you accumulate will be given away to others at your death.
The applause of men and of others will mean nothing when you are standing before the throne of God and all of Heaven and everyone is silent because you deserve no praise for the way you wasted your life. That silence will kill you and you will hear that for eternity!
What we learned from chapter 3:There is a time for everything in life and we need to know what time it is.
There is a time for everything in life. We are responsible to make sure that we do not waste our time or throw it away needlessly. Why, because it’s all we have to prepare for eternity. Life is really about preparing for eternity and this life that you and I are living is all we get – when your time is used up that’s it – you are out of time.
Timing is a major part of life and learning - “What time it is becomes crucial to success and to failure in life.”
Solomon told us that timing is everything in life and life goes through many stages and we need to know what time it is.
What we learned from chapter 4: Is work meaningless? According to Solomon “yes” it is if you are working for the wrong reason and for the wrong person.
The question is asked by Solomon is work meaningless? The answer is a “yes” if we work for the wrong person and for the wrong reason. The answer is “No” it is not meaningless when we are working for God, for His kingdom, His purposes and for His glory. This is when our work takes on new eternal meaning and it will live on into eternity! Solomon is trying to tell each of us today to make sure we work for the right reason and for the right person.
We need to connect with God and work for the Lord then our work is not meaningless and it will live on into eternity.
What we learned from chapter 5: We need to have a holy awe for God.
The believer must come to church with a sense of awe for God and listen to what the Spirit is saying about broken vows and the misuse of money. If we fail to invite God into our lives then we will live a meaningless life and that life will be a life of misery.
The Christian’s must keep their promises to God.
The Christian must give to God what belongs to God or it will harm them.
The Christian must stand in awe of God on a daily basis.
What we learned from chapter 6: Without God – life is pointless, family is meaningless, and life is a vicious cycle of chasing the wind.
Does God make us miserable so that we cannot enjoy life’s pleasures. Solomon contemplates this question as he looks at his own life. The question could be phrased this way too, “Is there no such thing as happy ever after without God?” Many say that happily ever after is not a reality in today’s world! I look at our society today and I concur that there is no happily ever after without God in our lives. Because without God there is no ever after!
Proverbs 10:28: “The prospect of the righteous is joy, but the hopes of the wicked come to nothing.”
Solomon tells us that without God – life is pointless, family is meaningless, and life is a vicious cycle of chasing the wind.
You will never be able to grab a hold of joy in life and meaning in life without God.
Your family will not give you internal joy without God and if you try to raise a family without God your family will not respect you, honor you or even give you a proper burial.
Your stuff even if accumulated will not bring joy into your life because your separation from God will block you from enjoying it.
His wise observations are as follows:
“Life is senseless, purposeless without God’s involvement!”
“Life has no eternal meaning without God in it.”
“Life has no joy – no gladness of heart because this is a gift from God!”
We need to surrender to God to find joy, purpose and eternal peace.
We need to understand that God is in control and has set everything in motion in life so I need to align myself with Him and His ways.
We need to understand that it is useless to argue with God.
We need understand that God knows all things and I do not.
We need to understand God has the power of life and death and I do not.
So it makes sense to incorporate God into my life by surrendering my life to God.
What we have learned from chapter 7: Wisdom is God given not manmade.
We all need the balance of wisdom in our life because it will help us balance the daily issues in life on this earth and it will also help us to balance the reality of eternity.
We all need to understand that wisdom is not attained by human knowledge, experience or the like it is a gift from God.
Swindoll puts it this way: “Wisdom is not simply a theoretical, sterile subject to be tossed around by philosophers and intellectuals. Neither is merely a theological concept to be discussed along cloistered seminary hallways. It is practical. It’s designed to work for us. Our definition makes that clear: wisdom is the God given ability to see life with rare objectivity and to handle life with rare stability” (217, 218).
We learn that wisdom comes from an intimate relationship with Jesus and He is the only way we can connect with wisdom. He really is the personification of wisdom in the book of Proverbs and for life itself.
I Corinthians 1:30 states, “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.”
What we learned in chapter 8: Wisdom submits to authority, avoids wickedness and knows that it does not have all the answers.
Solomon continues his explanation of the value of wisdom and he tells us: that a wise heart knows how to submit to authority, it knows that wickedness holds a death grip on people, and it accepts the fact that it does not have all the answers to life only God does.
Wisdom from above brightens a man’s face and takes the harshness out of life. When wisdom is in control of a person’s heart and life then they will shine for Jesus in a dark world.
A person with a wise heart will do the following with their time and with their lives:
They will submit to authority unless that authority tries to supersede God’s authority.
They will not allow evil or wickedness to get a death grip on their heart, if it has they will repent and ask God to remove the evils grip on their life and heart.
They will not claim to know more than God or even try to judge God about life’s circumstances instead they will walk by faith for God’s honor.
What we learned in chapter 9:Are we alive or dead in our sin we need to examine our heart.
Solomon challenges us to examine whether we are alive in God or dead in our sin. He tells us to find God’s favor now because at the crossover it will be too late!
Max Lucado made the following observation about Jesus and his attention to the dead zone called hell:
“Jesus spoke of hell often. Thirteen percent of his teachings refer to eternal judgment and hell. Two-thirds of his parables relate to resurrection and judgment. Jesus wasn’t cruel or capricious, but he was blunt. His candor stuns” (page 95).
“Jesus describes the length of heaven and hell with the same adjective: eternal. ‘They will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life’ (Matt. 25:46 RSV). Hell lasts as long as heaven. It may have a back door or graduation day, but I haven’t found it. Much perishes in hell. Hope perishes. Happiness perishes. But the body and soul of the God-deniers continue outside. Outside of heaven. Outside of hope, and outside of God’s goodness” (page 97).
Ezekiel 37:1-14 – The scenario here reveals that God can take something that is dead and resurrect it to new life and for some here today or listening I want you to know that God can bring you back to life!
What we learned in chapter 10: We need to be wise in life and not a fool.
Solomon tells us in chapter 10 of his journal that we need to be wise and not a fool like many he has observed throughout his life.
A foolish act will destroy a person’s reputation of wisdom and honor.
A foolish act is one that chooses to do wrong instead of right.
A foolish act by a person is one that does not know how to keep their emotions in check and instead they overreact to certain situations with foolish actions and foolish words.
A foolish act is one that does not use caution or planning when doing a risky act in life.
A foolish act is also one were the person does not do their work and is instead lazy and just a partier.
What we learned in chapter 11: Plant seeds of wisdom now so you can reap the benefits later
Solomon tells us to plant seeds of wisdom even when we are young because then we will reap a great eternal harvest with our life. Invest now with your life and reap eternal dividends – squander your life now reap anxiety and physical trouble later.
Learn to plant seeds of wisdom with your life now then you will be able to enjoy life in your later years from the harvest of these seeds.
Give your life away to the Kingdom of God and watch God bring back to your more than you gave away.
Choose to be foolish with your life then your life will be filled with anxiety and physical problems later on in life and even into eternity.
Understand that you must make the most of your time now when you are alive then you will be investing into your eternal future.
Mike Murdoch, “Your future begins with whatever is in your hands today.”
T.S. - Let’s look at the final chapter of Ecclesiastes and learn once again from Solomon the wise what the conclusion of the matter of life and death is.
Thesis: Solomon tells us to remember God now, understand that study can weary the body and then comprehend that it is the duty of everyone to fear God, keep His Commandments and live our life knowing that every deed we do in life will be evaluated at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
Scripture Text: Chapter 12
1 Remember your Creator
in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble come
and the years approach when you will say,
“I find no pleasure in them”—
2 before the sun and the light
and the moon and the stars grow dark,
and the clouds return after the rain;
3 when the keepers of the house tremble,
and the strong men stoop,
when the grinders cease because they are few,
and those looking through the windows grow dim;
4 when the doors to the street are closed
and the sound of grinding fades;
when men rise up at the sound of birds,
but all their songs grow faint;
5 when men are afraid of heights
and of dangers in the streets;
when the almond tree blossoms
and the grasshopper drags himself along
and desire no longer is stirred.
Then man goes to his eternal home
and mourners go about the streets.
6 Remember him—before the silver cord is severed,
or the golden bowl is broken;
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
or the wheel broken at the well,
7 and the dust returns to the ground it came from,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
8 “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher.
“Everything is meaningless!”
9Not only was the Teacher wise, but also he imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. 10The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true.
11The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one Shepherd. 12Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them.
Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.
13 Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man.
14 For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.
Introduction:
This last chapter of Ecclesiastes pulls the whole writing together and it helps the light bulb click on in our hearts and our minds. We have learned about what is meaningless in life and what has eternal value in life and Solomon pulls it all together in this final chapter. This section helps us to understand what matters most in life and what mindset will bring about a life that is filled with eternal value and meaning.
Swindoll tells us to look at the beginning of this chapter this way:
We Have come to the final moments of Solomon’s journey. And at long last the man has come to realize the importance of listening to and walking with his Creator. The sneering cynicism we found earlier in his journal is now conspicuous by its absence. He doesn’t hesitate to write in bold, easy-to-read script. ‘Before all of that aging transpires, you remember your Creator-do so in the days of your youth!’ Can’t you see ol’ Grandad Solomon leaning over, stroking his beard, and looking patiently into the eyes of his grandson? ‘Now listen, young man, and don’t you forget what I’m saying to you.’ Interestingly, he’s not speaking to a grandson, he’s speaking to all people down through the centuries of time, and that includes you and me. As I mentioned in chapter 22, the ancient Hebrew term translated remember means ‘to act decisively on behalf of someone.’ Solomon is saying, ‘Act decisively on behalf of God while you are young.’…Great idea! I suggest that we do just that. Let’s begin to release whatever pretense of self-sufficiency we may have and say, ‘Living God, I commit myself to You. You created me, so You know what is best for me. I willingly adapt my life to Your plan. I am ready to go your way!’ That is acting decisively on His behalf” (Living on the Ragged Edge, page 349).
T.S. – Let’s look at Solomon’s continuing thought carried over from chapter 11 that we need to remember god now –not later.
I. Remember God now!
a. We need to remember God now while we still have the time.
i. Swindoll states, “But the flesh will answer back, ‘Aw what’s the rush? Why not wait until you have sown a few wild oats? Why not wait thirty or forty years until you’ve had a pile of fun doing things your own way then turn to God? I mean, you get the best of both worlds that way.’ Solomon doesn’t waste time answering that kind of reasoning ‘remember Him…before the evil days come.’ Let that sink in. You see, it isn’t just ‘fun and games’ days, Solomon calls them ‘evil’ days. Any investment in evil pays a dreadful dividend-consequences, scars bad habits. It effects us mentally and emotionally. It brings anchors of heartache that we are forced to drag into today” (349, 350).
1. Solomon tells us not to fall into this trap because he knows it’s an empty painful and meaningless trip!
b. Solomon then reminds us that we are going to get old and we are going to have to deal with the reality of physical ailments and limitations in life.
i. See verse 3:
ii. I remember watching the movie, “On Golden Pond” and the elegant way Henry Fonda and Katherine Hepburn dealt with the reality of growing old and they showed the problems with aging but they also showed the benefits of it too.
1. Henry Fonda and Katherine Hepburn had academy award winning performances in this portrait of life and aging.
iii. The reality check for many of us today is, “We aint what we use to be!”
1. We cannot run – jump – dart – twist – cartwheel or roll like we use to in our prime.
2. This is why Solomon says, “Serve God in your youth because you will do more and invest the best years of your life in things that matter most!”
II. Study can weary the body!
a. Solomon was an avid student and was noted for his many proverbs which were filled with wisdom and insight.
i. Solomon tells us in his last chapter to understand that life is not found in studying or schooling – it’s not found in Bachelor degrees, Master’s degrees or Doctorate degrees.
1. Education will not give your life eternal meaning and value!
2. He knows because he tried it – it said it wore me out-my body is tired!
a. “I have information overload!”
b. Today we are living in society with information overload and I must ask the question – has all this ready information made our nation wiser?
c. Has education made our nation wise in the things of life and death?
d. Has the hall’s of education produced heroes for the faith?
i. No instead education as a whole in America has decided they do not need God nor his wisdom which means they may have knowledge but no idea how to use that knowledge because they lack wisdom from God to apply it.
ii. Solomon knows were his wisdom came from God gave it to him – just re-read the story:
1. 2 Chronicles 1:8-15: Solomon answered God, “You have shown great kindness to David my father and have made me king in his place. 9Now, LORD God, let your promise to my father David be confirmed, for you have made me king over a people who are as numerous as the dust of the earth. 10Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?” 11God said to Solomon, “Since this is your heart’s desire and you have not asked for wealth, riches or honor, nor for the death of your enemies, and since you have not asked for a long life but for wisdom and knowledge to govern my people over whom I have made you king, 12therefore wisdom and knowledge will be given you. And I will also give you wealth, riches and honor, such as no king who was before you ever had and none after you will have.” 13Then Solomon went to Jerusalem from the high place at Gibeon, from before the Tent of Meeting. And he reigned over Israel. 14Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. 15The king made silver and gold as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills.
2. Wisdom is the ability to use knowledge rightly and correctly. Solomon did not get his from books but from God himself!
a. We need to do the same – note I am not preaching against education – I am just finishing my Master’s and I thank God for it but – education without God – education without God’s wisdom just wears you out and is by itself meaningless without God’s involvement. Get educated but bring God into the halls of higher education with you – don’t leave him standing at the door!
III. The final word on what matters most in life!
a. Solomon tells us in these last few verses to know that these next few words of wisdom are the duties of all today if they want to live a life that has eternal value and meaning:
i. Fear God!
1. We must have a healthy respect for God and for who He is!
a. Walking in the fear of the Lord means keeping a continually tender conscience; abhorring all sin; having respect to every Divine precept; dreading to offend him from whom the soul has derived its being and its blessings. Without this salutary fear of God there never can be any circumspect walking or reverence for God (From Adam’s Clark Commentary).
b. Jesus tells us we need to fear God in Luke 12:4, 5: 4“I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.
i. Fear him—Even the friends of God are commanded to fear God, as a being who has authority to send both body and soul into hell. Therefore it is proper even for the most holy persons to maintain a fear of God, as the punisher of all unrighteousness. A man has but one life to lose, and one soul to save; and it is madness to sacrifice the salvation of the soul to the preservation of the life (From Adam’s Clark Commentary).
c. In the fear of God—Setting him always before your eyes, and considering that he has commanded you to love one another, and to bear each other’s burdens; and that what you do in this or any other commanded case, you do as unto the Lord (Adam’s).
d.
2. Proverbs 1:7 tells us that wisdom begins with the Fear of God!
a. The title of the book is followed by its motto, symbol, device: “The fear of Jahve is the beginning of knowledge; Wisdom and discipline is despised by fools.”
3. I believe this is a problem in America today – people do not fear or have a holy reverence for God anymore!
a. REVERENCE Respect or honor paid to a worthy object. In Scripture, reverence is paid: to father and mother (Lev. 19:3; Heb. 12:9); to God (1 Kings 18:3, 12; Heb. 12:28); to God’s sanctuary (Lev. 19:30; 26:2); and to God’s commandments (Ps. 119:48). The failure to revere God (Deut. 32:51) and the act of revering other gods (Judg. 6:10) have dire consequences. Reverence for Christ is expressed in mutual submission within the Christian community (Eph. 5:21). Christian persecution takes on new meaning as suffering becomes an opportunity for revering Christ (1 Pet. 3:14-15) (From Holman Bible Dictionary).
ii. Keep His Commandments! Deut. 5:1-21
1. 1God said to the people of Israel: 2I am the Lord your God, the one who brought you out of Egypt where you were slaves.3Do not worship any god except me.
2. 4Do not make idols that look like anything in the sky or on earth or in the ocean under the earth. 5Don’t bow down and worship idols. I am the Lord your God, and I demand all your love. If you reject me, I will punish your families for three or four generations. 6But if you love me and obey my laws, I will be kind to your families for thousands of generations.
3. 7Do not misuse my name. I am the Lord your God, and I will punish anyone who misuses my name.
4. 8Remember that the Sabbath Day belongs to me. 9You have six days when you can do your work, 10but the seventh day of each week belongs to me, your God. No one is to work on that day—not you, your children, your slaves, your animals, or the foreigners who live in your towns. 11In six days I made the sky, the earth, the oceans, and everything in them, but on the seventh day I rested. That’s why I made the Sabbath a special day that belongs to me.
5. 12Respect your father and your mother, and you will live a long time in the land I am giving you.
6. 13Do not murder.
7. 14Be faithful in marriage.
8. 15Do not steal.
9. 16Do not tell lies about others.
10. 17Do not want anything that belongs to someone else. Don’t want anyone’s house, wife or husband, slaves, oxen, donkeys or anything else
a. The Supreme Court ruled that these were to be removed from public schools because a student may read them:
i. They stated, “The posting of the Ten Commandments is unconstitutional, for if the students were to see the Ten Commandments, they would be induced to read, meditate upon, perhaps to venerate (respect) or obey them and this would be unconstitutional – Stone v, Graham 1980.”
ii. They also stated, “If portions of the New Testament were read without explanation, they could be, and…had been, psychologically harmful to the child.” Abington v. Schemp, 1963.
iii. Know that you will be held accountable for all of your actions in life!
1. Swindoll notes: Dr. Wilbur Penfeld, director of the Montreal Neurological Institute, said in a report to the Smithsonian Institute:
Your brain contains a permanent record of your past that is like a single continuous strip of moving film, complete with sound track. The film library records your whole waking life from childhood on. You can live again those scenes from your past, one at a time, when a surgeon places a gentle electrical current and applies it to a certain point on the temporal cortex of your brain. As you relive the scenes from your past, you feel exactly the same emotions you did during the original experience.
Think of that! Could it be that the human race will be confronted with this irrefutable record at the judgment of God? Indeed (page 373).
2. Romans 14:10 -12:
a. 10You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11It is written: “ ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’” 12So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
b. John Bevere notes in his book “Driven By Eternity” the following:
i. “We all will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Who is Paul referring to, believers or unbelievers? In examining these Scriptures in context, there’s no misunderstanding: it is believers” (184).
ii. 2 Corinthians 5:8-11 also asserts this fact:
1. 8We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.11Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience.
3. John Bevere gives us a reality check when he states, “The Judgment Seat of Christ is literally the divine tribunal of God. Scripture declares that the Father has committed all judgment to the Son (John 5:22). Jesus Christ is not only our Savior, but He is our Judge and will soon judge His own household. The simplest way to define the original word for judgment is to say it is a decision resulting from an investigation, for or against. There are numerous individuals in church unaware that they will give an account of what they’ve done in their short stay on earth. Many have the erroneous idea that all future judgment is eradicated by their salvation. Indeed, Jesus’ blood cleanses us from the sins that would have kept us from the kingdom, however, it does not exempt us from the judgment of how we conducted ourselves as believers, whether good or bad. The judgments or decisions rendered over us at His seat will be eternal; they will last forever; never altered or changed” (page, 186).
4. The truth is the way you spend a single day will determine the way you may spend a million years in eternity.
a. We determine each hour, each day, each week, each month what value system we are going to follow. We will either chose the live in the temporal time frame of our life and in so doing appease our fleshly desires and wants. On the other hand we could choose to invest our lives into the eternal Word of God and lives our lives in view of eternity and in view of our day before the Judgment Seat of Christ.
i. We can choose to live in denial and pay the consequences.
ii. We can choose to live in the light of God’s Word and reap blessings for eternity.
Conclusion:
Solomon was the wise teacher who was given the divine task of telling us what really matters in life. He was used by the Lord to teach us what matters most in life and to help us understand how a life gains eternal value or not.
Solomon’s writings in this book have made a case to our hearts and to our minds.
His writing has imparted knowledge to us.
His writing has helped us to ponder, to think to question our motivations in life.
His writing has helped us sort through truth and deception found in this world.
His writing has put forth a case for wisdom over foolishness.
His writing has laid the ground work for wisdom.
His writing conveys eternal principles and truths.
His writing was filled with eternal warnings and cautions.
His writing was practical, relevant and right on time.
Solomon wrote this journal so that you and I could read it and learn from it. We have seen his failures and his successes and now at this moment in time we need to ponder some final questions:
How will you choose to live your life? Will you choose to cultivate a life filled with eternal values or will you throw your life away on meaningless pursuits with no eternal value?
