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Spiritual Bread for the Spirit Bred
"For God so loved the world that He gave His onlyh begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
(John 3:16 - NKJV)
"For God so loved the world that He gave His onlyh begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
(John 3:16 - NKJV)
SPIRIT BREAD WEEKLY
THE GREAT CONCLUSION
By Jerry D. Ousley
By Jerry D. Ousley
The Great Conclusion
By Jerry D. Ousley
Sometimes, during the evening hours, after dinner, while watching TV, I get the munchies. You know what I mean, that craving for … something … I don’t quite know just what, but my body says I need it. So the hunt begins. I try one thing and it tastes so good. But when it is gone, the craving is still there. After several attempts with nothing satisfying the craving, guilt tells me that if I don’t just stop, I’m going to weigh five hundred pounds!
In life, we often have cravings, or desires we just can’t seem to lay a finger on, but the nagging never seems to stop. King Solomon, the son of David, who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes, addressed this very thing in the short twelve-chapter document. He said it this way, “The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
‘Vanity of vanities,’ says the Preacher; ‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.’” (Ecclesiastes 1:1-2). That word, “vanity” could also be interpreted as “emptiness” or “worthlessness.” Solomon goes on to list all the things he tried in attempt to fill that emptiness inside him. Remember that God had blessed him, making him probably the wisest man in the world. He filled Solomon with wisdom and knowledge. He had such riches that he could have anything his heart desired. And he did. According to his writing in this book he tried alcohol, trinkets and gadgets, women and partying. The Bible tells us that in his attempt to satisfy his craving he married three hundred wives and had seven hundred concubines on top of his wives.
All this vanity led him astray and we read elsewhere in the Bible that he fell into idolatry. We aren’t told as to whether he repented or not. My hope is that this book of Ecclesiastes was an attempt to repent.
I believe that I’m not the only one who has experienced a craving that could not be satisfied. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that each and every person ever created by God has experienced this desire. Men spend lifetimes searching for its fulfillment, most never finding that thing that brings satisfaction.
What are its effects? Unless satisfaction can be found it can lead to one spending all their money, or all their time, or all their energy chasing after a whim. I’ve known those who thought that craving would be fulfilled in having wealth. In order to find it they spent a large portion of their paycheck, gambling it away hoping to just hit that one lucky number, or hit that jackpot. In itself, gambling is not wrong. But when it takes us over and consumes our time, our wealth and our happiness, then it becomes sin.
Others have thought it to be fulfilled in a pricy new car or truck. Or perhaps a large house, or other expenditure that leaves them struggling in hopeless debt they cannot repay.
Some accumulate large bank accounts with more and more and more money. It can never seem to have enough in it. But all that money will belong to someone else one day and then, for us personally, it is nothing more than vanity. It is true of the money, of the things, of the control of the lives of others and over partying and riotous living. In the end it is nothing more than vanity.
At the end of the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon does give us the answer. This is why I hope that he repented, because he wrote, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Perhaps he did.
But whether Solomon did or not, the truth is there for us all. You see, that emptiness inside is the vacuum that demands occupation by Jesus Christ. I’m not talking now of just a food craving, but of the life-craving that is never satisfied. We can’t satisfy it with things, people, or false religions. Nothing will fill it because it is the emptiness that came upon the human race when the very first one, Adam, sinned and lost contact with God in the Garden of Eden. From that day forward that emptiness has left a craving in man that can only be filled by God.
Jesus allowed Himself to die by crucifixion at the hands of the Roman soldiers and at the desire of the Jewish leaders, but not to fulfill their desire to be rid of Him, but because the entire population of the Earth needed a Savior. His death paid the penalty required for our sin. His resurrection gave each one who acknowledges Him the victory over sin, death, the grave, and eternal death in the lake of fire. It also grants the privilege to eternal life with Jesus Christ in that room in His house He promised (see John 14:2-3).
What about it? Are you ready to have your emptiness filled up? Can you come to the great conclusion that you need Christ in your life? All you have to do is to repent – recognize your sin and your need for a Savior – Believe that He died for you and that He arose victorious over the grave, again, for you, and if you do that in complete sincerity, the Bible says that you will be saved – rescued from the plight of eternal death in Hell.
Come to that great conclusion today. I promise, you won’t regret it.
By Jerry D. Ousley
Sometimes, during the evening hours, after dinner, while watching TV, I get the munchies. You know what I mean, that craving for … something … I don’t quite know just what, but my body says I need it. So the hunt begins. I try one thing and it tastes so good. But when it is gone, the craving is still there. After several attempts with nothing satisfying the craving, guilt tells me that if I don’t just stop, I’m going to weigh five hundred pounds!
In life, we often have cravings, or desires we just can’t seem to lay a finger on, but the nagging never seems to stop. King Solomon, the son of David, who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes, addressed this very thing in the short twelve-chapter document. He said it this way, “The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
‘Vanity of vanities,’ says the Preacher; ‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.’” (Ecclesiastes 1:1-2). That word, “vanity” could also be interpreted as “emptiness” or “worthlessness.” Solomon goes on to list all the things he tried in attempt to fill that emptiness inside him. Remember that God had blessed him, making him probably the wisest man in the world. He filled Solomon with wisdom and knowledge. He had such riches that he could have anything his heart desired. And he did. According to his writing in this book he tried alcohol, trinkets and gadgets, women and partying. The Bible tells us that in his attempt to satisfy his craving he married three hundred wives and had seven hundred concubines on top of his wives.
All this vanity led him astray and we read elsewhere in the Bible that he fell into idolatry. We aren’t told as to whether he repented or not. My hope is that this book of Ecclesiastes was an attempt to repent.
I believe that I’m not the only one who has experienced a craving that could not be satisfied. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that each and every person ever created by God has experienced this desire. Men spend lifetimes searching for its fulfillment, most never finding that thing that brings satisfaction.
What are its effects? Unless satisfaction can be found it can lead to one spending all their money, or all their time, or all their energy chasing after a whim. I’ve known those who thought that craving would be fulfilled in having wealth. In order to find it they spent a large portion of their paycheck, gambling it away hoping to just hit that one lucky number, or hit that jackpot. In itself, gambling is not wrong. But when it takes us over and consumes our time, our wealth and our happiness, then it becomes sin.
Others have thought it to be fulfilled in a pricy new car or truck. Or perhaps a large house, or other expenditure that leaves them struggling in hopeless debt they cannot repay.
Some accumulate large bank accounts with more and more and more money. It can never seem to have enough in it. But all that money will belong to someone else one day and then, for us personally, it is nothing more than vanity. It is true of the money, of the things, of the control of the lives of others and over partying and riotous living. In the end it is nothing more than vanity.
At the end of the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon does give us the answer. This is why I hope that he repented, because he wrote, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Perhaps he did.
But whether Solomon did or not, the truth is there for us all. You see, that emptiness inside is the vacuum that demands occupation by Jesus Christ. I’m not talking now of just a food craving, but of the life-craving that is never satisfied. We can’t satisfy it with things, people, or false religions. Nothing will fill it because it is the emptiness that came upon the human race when the very first one, Adam, sinned and lost contact with God in the Garden of Eden. From that day forward that emptiness has left a craving in man that can only be filled by God.
Jesus allowed Himself to die by crucifixion at the hands of the Roman soldiers and at the desire of the Jewish leaders, but not to fulfill their desire to be rid of Him, but because the entire population of the Earth needed a Savior. His death paid the penalty required for our sin. His resurrection gave each one who acknowledges Him the victory over sin, death, the grave, and eternal death in the lake of fire. It also grants the privilege to eternal life with Jesus Christ in that room in His house He promised (see John 14:2-3).
What about it? Are you ready to have your emptiness filled up? Can you come to the great conclusion that you need Christ in your life? All you have to do is to repent – recognize your sin and your need for a Savior – Believe that He died for you and that He arose victorious over the grave, again, for you, and if you do that in complete sincerity, the Bible says that you will be saved – rescued from the plight of eternal death in Hell.
Come to that great conclusion today. I promise, you won’t regret it.