THERE IS NO CARNAL PATH TO HAPPINESS

"1 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun and it is prevalent among men— 2 a man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor so that his soul lacks nothing of all that he desires; yet God has not empowered him to eat from them, for a foreigner enjoys them. This is vanity and a severe affliction." - Eccl 6:1,2

Solomon has made similar contrasts between the rich and the power, the powerful and the weak, the young and the old. You can accumulate all your life, but there are somethings beyond your power. Why does it seem that the rich are not happy or satisfied while a poor man is?

Men can pursue many things in this life and they can accumulate great wealth. They have done so by manipulating and utilizing the natural order of things which God set into place. If you sow, you reap; you sow much, you reap much. Carnal men understand this. But they have only so much control. The fruit of all their labors will be given to others. It's like the old saying "you can't take it with you when you die." The greatest and most powerful people in the world know that they only have so much power. They can try to get around this reality by living longer and by managing and bequeathing their estate to their children, but still they face the reality that a certain point is reached when events are beyond their control. Abuses of power and manipulations of what is right can aid them only so far. The rich man is not "empowered" by God to maintain his grasp on his precious things. His riches can vanish and be quickly taken away. Solomon says it is evil, but he know it is a negative reality of God's order of things. A carnal man keeps trusting the carnal to satisfy himself which is vanity because his source of happiness will disappear as a vapor.

God gives man the tools to work and accumulate things, but happiness and satisfaction are more elusive. Happier is the man who draws near to God. God has given us the basic necessities of life so that we enjoy them. Labor with our hands and bread to eat are from Him. A man that doesn't have the basics is the destitute and hopeless. But a righteous man is happy because He acknowledges the source of His blessings. He has something that can't be taken away.

"Better is a little with the fear of the LORD Than great treasure and turmoil with it." - Proverbs 15:16

KEEP A HUMBLE ATTITUDE BEFORE GOD

"2 Do not be hasty in word or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God. For God is in heaven and you are on the earth; therefore let your words be few." - Eccl. 5:2

There ought to be in every man a natural and instinctive fear of God, but many men lose this knowledge. They begin to think that God is like them and they talk to Him as an equal. They take Him for granted and rudely make demands of Him. When their life is crumbling apart they lash out and accuse Him of being the cause of their troubles. Arrogance and pride have replaced the natural humility men feel in the presence of God. This is evil.

When you pray and gain the attention of God, please remember that God is above you and you are below Him. He is Almighty, and able to help. He is benevolent, but He won't be disrespected. Don't take to blaming and accusing Him of your troubles when the trouble is from man. When you pray, go quietly and humbly. Be careful to say no vain words. Speak whatever you need and spend as much time there as you need. He is patient and He will understand the pleadings and stirrings that you wish to say.

STEWARDSHIP REQUIRES DILIGENCE

The wise person doesn't sit by as his home and possessions crumble around him. Whatever we have is the Lord's to which we are to be good stewards. The Proverb says, "Know well the condition of your flocks, and pay attention to your herds" (Pro. 27:23). When the car is clunking or when water is dripping, fix them before the problem worsens. Remember the old adage, "A stitch in time saves time", and aAn ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". Wise people are good stewards of God's things by fixing what is broken and by regular maintenance and labor. Another Proverb says,

"30 I passed by the field of the sluggard And by the vineyard of the man lacking sense, 31 And behold, it was completely overgrown with thistles; Its surface was covered with nettles, And its stone wall was broken down. 32 When I saw, I reflected upon it; I looked, and received instruction. 33 “A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest,” (Pro. 24:30ff).

Maintaining our spirituality requires diligence as well. The Hebrews letter says, "by practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil." Christians can't sit idly in their Christian walk. We must always be learning and walking in the ways of God. Otherwise, we stay babies who don't grow. So laziness and sloth are enemies to faith and not just to material possessions. Christians are good stewards of all things from God, including salvation.

HONOR GOD WITH YOUR MONEY

The title of my piece here at first sounds carnal as if we could buy a relationship with God. The Proverb says, "9 Honor the LORD from your wealth and from the first of all your produce;" I understand what Solomon is saying and it's not that we buy favor from God or in any way cheapen the relationship we have with Him. But God is God and we are His creation and He is worthy of our praise and worship. In that worship we can either bring Him something meaningful or we can bring Him something meaningless.

The value of the gifts say something about our belief in Him and something about our gratitude to Him. If a man spends on himself and gives to God with whatever is left, his faith is called into question. If he thinks of God first when he receives a bounty, it says a lot about his faith in God. So give to God from the first fruits of your labor. Give to God off the top. Plan to give to God as you have been prospered and God will be pleased. If the fruit of your labor is in goats, then give Him your first goat. If the fruit of your labor comes to you monetarily, then honor Him with your wealth.

YOU ARE NOT UNDER ANY REGULATION FROM GOD TO FORGIVE EVERYONE

The misguided religious folks of our day err when they say God demands that we unconditionally forgive everyone. The Scriptures show otherwise:

There are guilty, unrepentant men in the world. Have nothing to do with them. Proverbs says, "A man who is laden with the guilt of human blood will be a fugitive until death; let no one support him", Pro. 28:17. It would be a sin to give him support. It would be a sin to forgive him. This verse is speaking in general terms and does not deal with the fugitive that is remorseful and seeks God's salvation.

In heaven there is a book of deeds and many men will have sins in it retained by God. Because they did not believe in His Son so as to be saved by His grace, their sins are retained. God forgives those who repent of their sins, Lk. 13:3. Likewise, it is on that basis that we forgive men. "If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained", Jn. 20:23. The Apostles, the Leaders of the Church, retained the sins of some and the sins were retained in heaven. So if someone is saying that Christians must absolutely forgive everyone, they are simply mistaken because of this verse alone.

Some people get the order of things backwards. The way they explain forgiveness being unconditional requires that they forgive the erring Brother immediately, with or without, a contrite spirit in the Brother. "11 But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one", 1 Cor. 5:11. Here is the erroneous order or things:

--> Christian sins and is caught
--> Caring Brother confronts the erring Brother who does not repent
--> Caring Christian forgives him
--> Caring Christian puts unrepentant Brother out of the church to "deliver him over to Satan".

To be like God, to forgive like God, the Church cannot forgive the unrepentant Brother.

Some people are not discerning as they should be and so they conclude that we must forgive everyone just as God does. Not true. God does not forgive everyone. God offers forgiveness to everyone but on the condition of repentance and obedience to the Gospel. Repentance is essential or you may not forgive, Luke 17:3,4.

Because God does not forgive the unrepentant, for it would violate His holy nature, it is therefore wrong for God's people to be praying for Him to do so. John wrote, "16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this", 1 Jn. 5:16. God answers prayer and He forgives and helps those sinful Brothers who have a broken and contrite spirit. But if a Brother is sinning and has a stiff neck and rebellious spirit, don't bother praying for him to be forgiven because God isn't going to forgive him.

Christians are the most forgiving people in the world. We are like our God who forgives the most. But it is a gross error, born of denominational ideas, that imposes something as unreasonable and inconsistent as forgiving an unrepentant person. If you wish to forgive an unrepentant person, go ahead and see what it gets you. You might as well forgive a viper or a lion. I wouldn't recommend you get to close.