-Strength for Today- "The Greatest Lesson We Can Learn." - Ecclesiastes 3:12-26.

?The view from an airplane at?30,000 feet?“is very different from the view from the ground.”?Likewise, “looking at a life from a distance,”?isn't always what’s?“being projected at a life as it’s actually being lived.”?Because in life, sometimes?“situational circumstances”?when?you’re?confined to an?“emotional “or?“mental closet of loneliness,”?you’ll?become?“spiritually blind”?to God’s?“evidential presence”?of?God’s?“working through the dark places in your life.”?Because?“at the innermost core of all loneliness,”?there’s a?“devout need for “spirit of freedom.”?

?So, you?need to remember?that?“the Lord is that Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord?is, there?is freedom” -?2 Corinthians 3:17. Ecclesiastes, chapters 1:12-2:26, enlightens us with the fact that “life under the sun” is “consistently?busy with things that don’t last.?Then the preacher?“encourages us to,”?“trade?busyness for the appreciation of God’s gracious freedom,” which?He employed to us?“through His Son?Jesus Christ.??Even from creation,?“God placed eternity into the souls of our first parents,”?“Genesis 2:26-27),?but due to Adam and Eve’s faltered nature,?“if?mankind?isn’t”?daily “filled with the Spirit of God,”?there’ll always be “the presence of satanic doubt.”?

Therefore, the greatest lesson that we learn are both?“personal,”?and?“missional.”?That two-fold lesson gives us the God’s purpose for His Son, “who on the cross,” did “freely”?and?“sacrificially,”?“give His life for us,”?so that we who receive by faith in His?“death,” “burial,”?and?“resurrection,” “may?also freely give that?“gospel message of salvation to others.”?

??I was raised during the time?“when?men and women?in my community” had?“to self- sacrifice,”?in order?“to survive the weight of injustice.”?Our mother would cook, and serve us, but?she’d?eat the?“chicken back,”?to ensure that dad and the rest of us got the best part of the chicken. But regardless of what we had to eat, daddy will always bless before the Lord, that which we had to eat. But one thing I can say, “no matter how humble we were, my family loves Jesus.”??

At bed time, daddy would lead my sister,?brothers?and I in prayer.?As a teenager, I remember there at 717 W. Indiana Avenue, my mother sharing a proverb that she prayed over me,?“A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before great men” -?Proverbs 18: 16.??

So,?I'm?saying?“no matter how humble one’s life is,”?or “has been,?“there’s?always life?lessons tucked back that’s worth reviving:??

1. There's?nothing like family,?
2. You?can’t?beat having fun,?
3. Learn to start living (because?that’s?why?you’re?here!)?
4. Acknowledge?that?you’re?going to make lots of mistakes, but remember to be kind, and not victimize anyone.?

??But the most important lesson is that of?“walking with Jesus.”?Because?“this tedious journey”?will lead you?“to an eternal destiny with Him!?

Author: Plez Lovelady, Jr., PhD

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