by Pastor Cecil | Aug 3, 2015 | Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.”
Being alone is a terrible thing. A while back Tom Hanks made the movie “Castaway” in which he portrayed the survivor of a plane crash stranded for many years on an un-inhabited and unknown island. He was so isolated and alone that his only companion was a volleyball that he named “Wilson.” It was poignant to see how being alone could utterly change the way he viewed life.
We really do need each other! Walking life’s pathway alone can be very disheartening and terrifying. The strange thing about it is that many times, if not most of the time, it is a choice. Lonely people frequently push away anyone who attempts to draw close to them.
There have been very few times in my life where I could honestly feel that I was alone. Having said that, there are times where I have intentionally chosen to stand alone. That does not mean that I was a loner, but rather refused to go along with behavior that I felt was not honoring to the Lord. Standing alone is different than being alone! Being alone is a picture of a hermit. Standing alone is a picture of one who does not allow the perversity of this world to overwhelm them.
As you look at your own life in light of God’s will for your life, what do you see? Let me phrase that a different way: If Jesus Christ was to appear in the next few minutes would He find you standing alone for Him? As we face the storms of life and the temptations to go along with the crowd, choose to stand alone for Jesus!
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | May 18, 2015 | Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 5:6-7
“Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error. Why should God be angry at your excuse and destroy the work of your hands? For in the multitude of dreams and many words there is also vanity. But fear God.”
Let’s face it. Most of the mistakes we make occur out of our own free will. We are sinful people, and God’s Word is very clear about letting us know that. However, things will happen from time to time that are really not intended.
Let me give you an example of how an honest mistake can become an embarrassing gaffe. My dear sweet wife Joyce, who has now gone to be with the Lord, had a shy personality. She was always concerned about how her demeanor and communication would affect other people. I often stood in amazement of her kind spirit and her delicate nature, and I will miss those beloved attributes for the rest of my days.
One day in the shopping mall we spotted a young man from our Sunday school class. Unfortunately, Joyce got his name mixed up with one of the other members of our class. The following week she bumped into the wrong young man’s fiancé and commented, “I saw your husband in the mall the other day and he is such a fine young man.” The young lady reacted very sharply. “That’s strange. He was supposed to be out of town on a business trip.” Oops! Luckily I was there and could provide the correct identity of the man we had actually seen at the mall. Joyce was terribly embarrassed by this honest mistake.
God knows our intentions; He knows when we make an honest mistake and when we intentionally violate His Word. Our life should be a living example of what a true person of God should be. Mistakes, yes! But not intentional sinning.
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jan 30, 2015 | Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 3:11
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
Years ago I heard a minister tell of an incident in a hospital elevator where he had just come from visiting a very ill patient. A young man overheard him speak about eternity and, perhaps wanting to mock his view, asked the minister where eternity was. The minister told the boy to place his hand on his chest to feel the beat of his heart. “Young man, eternity is one heartbeat away!” That may answer where eternity is or at least how close we are to it, but just how long is eternity?
Our daughter was in the hospital near death. One afternoon as the two of us spoke quietly, she said she felt she was cheated out of half of her life. She went on to say that Grandpa was 74 when he died and here she was just 35.
That evening as I drove into the garage I noticed that the car had been bringing in sand. I took out a sheet of typing paper and swept up some of the sand. I then sat at the kitchen table and counted out 74 grains. Some were larger than others, but all of them were quite small. I placed the 74 grains of sand in a tiny sample perfume bottle.
The next day as I entered her room I placed the bottle on her bed. When she asked what it was I told her it was Grandpa. I asked her to imagine the earth being nothing but fine sand. Each grain represented one year of eternity. The 74 grains in the bottle represented Grandpa’s life. Compared to the entire globe of sand it was nothing. Whether a person’s life lasted long or short, compared to eternity it was nothing.
It is what we do with the years we are given that matters. We can choose to confess our sins and accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior or we can continue our own willful way and suffer the dreadful consequences prepared for the lost.
I pray that the video that accompanies today’s Daily-E-Votional will assist you in making the right choice. Please feel free to share it with others while there is still time.
To view the video The Sands of Eternity, go towww.PastorCecil.com.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
—Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jul 31, 2014 | Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 5:10-11
Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owners except to feast their eyes on them?
The material things of this world have always been a temptation. From the Garden of Eden to our own flower garden, mankind has hungered for the things of this world thinking we could find contentment.
There is that word — CONTENTMENT. What does it take to make us feel the warm glow of contentment and satisfaction? If we had more money would we find satisfaction? No! Some of the most dissatisfied people in the world are the richest. Would better health bring satisfaction? Again we find that this is not the case. Health and wealth do not automatically insure satisfaction.
Most of us know people who are constantly striving to find satisfaction. It seems that these folks continue to be the most miserable ones we know. They are never satisfied with anything in their lives and make others miserable in their effort.
Here is the time to look into the mirror of God’s Word. As you read once again the words of Ecclesiastes 5:10-11, remember that the man who wrote these words was Solomon. He was the richest and wisest man in the world but, even with all he possessed, Solomon still was not content. Contrast that with what Paul writes in Philippians 4:12: “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” How about you?
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jan 24, 2014 | Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 3:11
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Years ago I heard a minister tell of an incident in a hospital elevator where he had just come from visiting a very ill patient. A young man overheard him speak about eternity and, perhaps wanting to mock his view, asked the minister where eternity was. The minister told the boy to place his hand on his chest to feel the beat of his heart. “Young man, eternity is one heartbeat away!” That may answer where eternity is or at least how close we are to it, but just how long is eternity?
Our daughter was in the hospital near death. One afternoon as the two of us spoke quietly, she said she felt she was cheated out of half of her life. She went on to say that Grandpa was 74 when he died and here she was just 35.
That evening as I drove into the garage I noticed that the car had been bringing in sand. I took out a sheet of typing paper and swept up some of the sand. I then sat at the kitchen table and counted out 74 grains. Some were larger than others, but all of them were quite small. I placed the 74 grains of sand in a tiny sample perfume bottle.
The next day as I entered her room I placed the bottle on her bed. When she asked what it was I told her it was Grandpa. I asked her to imagine the earth being nothing but fine sand. Each grain represented one year of eternity. The 74 grains in the bottle represented Grandpa’s life. Compared to the entire globe of sand it was nothing. Whether a person’s life lasted long or short, compared to eternity it was nothing.
It is what we do with the years we are given that matters. We can choose to confess our sins and accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior or we can continue our own willful way and suffer the dreadful consequences prepared for the lost.
I pray that the video that accompanies today’s Daily-E-Votional will assist you in making the right choice. Please feel free to share it with others while there is still time.
To view the video The Sands of Eternity, go to www.PastorCecil.com.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
—Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jan 1, 2014 | Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 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.’
Newspaper columnist Erma Bombeck, who died in 1996, once wrote that she realized things had changed between Erma and her mother in the car. One day she was driving with her mother beside her in the passenger seat and had to slow rather quickly. Without thinking about it, she reached over to support her mother much like she had done for one of her children. Erma’s mother had now become the child, and Erma the mother. Life had suddenly come full circle.
Shortly afterwards, Erma happened to be in the passenger seat with her daughter driving when she had to brake suddenly. You got it! The daughter reached over to support Erma. Oh, how things change!
Our granddaughter was with us over Christmas and was commenting on her age—“Being 25 is ‘unreal,'” she says. When her brother was 20, our granddaughter thought it would be forever before she would reach that age, and now she is five years past that!
Her comments reminded me of just how quickly life passes. There is no time for procrastination. The things that God calls us to do must be done when He tells us to do it . . . not when we get around to it. Only one life and it soon will pass. Only what is done for Christ will last!
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
—Pastor Cecil
