LIFE'S EXPERIENCES

Currently reading Ecclesiastes – Solomon did not find lasting satisfaction in works.  Life is meaningless without God.  Works, building, etc. are worthless unless for someone’s benefit, either man’s, God’s or God’s creation benefit…for God.  Happiness is not found in the things of this world if only for their own sake.  Purpose, meaning, joy, fulfillment all has to come from God.  If there is no God, all of life is without worth except what our bodies and selves put on it, and that is not lasting.  Only in God, eternal life and service to him is there ultimate meaning.  Still, there are preferences and interests that we acquire and/or are born with; for example, I like to write, fly, ski, and I like boats and being on them and being at sea.

  

Reading Ecclesiastes, God sets the patterns of our lives:  birth, death, planting, pulling up, killing, healing, sorrow, joy, kissing, not kissing, finding, losing, tearing, mending, silence, talk, love, hate, war and peace.  All people will experience these things, we are individuals, but the framework of life as a human being will encompass all these things.  To some extent, we are judged on how we handle them and what we do in our lives, but we can only know what God wants and do it, through his Spirit, and spirits (angels in his service).  There are spirits galore and each has its plan and purpose to take us down their roads for their selfish purposes….even as they give us pleasure.  Only God and those spirits in his services, act for our total good coupled with his love for others. 

Much of our lives with other persons involves, in some way, the shared experience of life.  Loved ones and friends share much of or a specific part of our lives.  Literature, movies, art share the experience/impression and exploration of the meaning of life.

The Bible is about God, his life, his wants, and our interaction with him, as well as what life is to be coupled with him.  We are allowed pleasures, joy, and meaning, as well as service to him.  David and Solomon, while having other issues, also enjoyed life and explored it…Solomon especially, but he lost the God focus in his activities that would have made them meaningful.  Still, Solomon lived to the full in his pursuit of life on earth.  That is allowed, and is of some value to God and mankind.  Also, Solomon noted the injustices, etc. and wrote of them.   He had eyes in his head to see what was happening even in Israel under his rule.   He pondered all these things.  I get enjoyment out of exploring life through literature and considering existence from the creative standpoint.

The New Testament is about being right with God through Jesus and relationships with believers and others, as well as God’s behavioral standards and relationship policies/morals in the real context of good and evil.