by Charles Bertelsmeier
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Read Ecclesiastes 1:1–11
Although I can remember the names and a little about the lives of my grandparents, I would struggle to tell you the names of all my great-grandparents or anything about their lives.
Then I think about my grandchildren and realise they know virtually nothing about my parents and previous generations. I’m sure we could all agree with the sentiment expressed in today’s verse.
We will spend today and the next four days looking at the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes. Before you open your calendar app and set a reminder to resume reading LCA devotions next Saturday and skip these five days, let me encourage you to persevere. God has put every book of the Bible there for a reason and has a message for us. I pray that God has a message for you in what he gives me to write. You may also like to read the whole book before we proceed with these devotions.
The first verse of this book indicates that the author is King Solomon. God blessed King Solomon to be one of the wisest people in history. He is also believed to be the author of the biblical book Song of Songs and to have collected many proverbs.
In Ecclesiastes, the author conducts a series of scientific experiments to find the meaning of life. In reflecting on this, I think we are all doing the same, but probably not as scientifically as Solomon. As young children, we are absorbed in play. As teenagers, we are trying to discover who we are. As young adults, we seek acceptance through our friendship circles and employment. Then, we aim to perpetuate our identity through our children, moving on to get ourselves financially secure and finally retiring to contemplate what we have achieved with our lives. Maybe we will even write up our life stories to perpetuate our legacies.
Solomon tries a range of activities to find meaning and fulfilment but comes up empty each time. Most of these things are things we also do to try to discover meaning and purpose. Spoiler alert: The conclusion Solomon comes to is that we only find that meaning and purpose through our relationship with God and by surrendering our lives to the plans he has for us.
Most of us, me included, didn’t want to hear that when we were younger and tried looking elsewhere. I thank God he didn’t give up on me and gently led me to accept Solomon’s conclusion.
Heavenly Father, I accept that life without you is meaningless. Please help me to listen to your Spirit as we dive into the Book of Ecclesiastes and to find meaning and purpose in your plans for us. Amen.
Charles is a retired engineer who has worked on communications projects for the air force, army and navy. He lives in a retirement village in the outer north-western suburbs of Sydney with his wife, Diane. Together, they have four children and eight grandchildren, all of whom they love spending time with. Charles keeps busy caring for their pot plants and a community vegetable garden, researching his family history and volunteering at LifeWay Lutheran Church.
What you really, really want
by Tim Klein
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Whoever desires to love life and see good days (1 Peter 3:10a).
Read 1 Peter 3:8–14
One of the things I really, really want right now is for my rainwater tanks – all 205,000 litres of them – to be full before summer and the need to water my garden begins again. Right now, I’m watching steady, gentle rain falling. Every drop is flowing into the gutters and rolling down into the tanks! It’s one week into winter, and already one-third of my annual need is stored. Hallelujah!
While rain is something I really, really want, it’s not the ultimate thing I need. Even if it doesn’t rain and I must turn the water off in my garden, there are more important things – not just for me, but for everyone.
In 1996, the pop group Spice Girls sang, ‘Tell me what you want, what you really, really want.’ They may have found short-term satisfaction, but they weren’t singing about what we ultimately need – you, me and the whole world.
So, what do we all really need in this life? This short list from the online US fatherhood program allprodad.com is an attempt to document our basic needs:
- to connect
- to be valued
- to be understood/seen
- to overcome adversity
- to love and be loved.
Of course, we could all write our own lists of what would seem most relevant to us and our needs. There are many needs and wants we all have in common. I can identify with those five needs, and perhaps you may too, to a greater or lesser extent.
But God knows our bigger picture, and in 1 Peter 3:8–14, he spells it out for us.
Dear Lord, I want to lose my life in you and be found in you for all of my days and into eternity. Let your Spirit guide my thoughts and actions in ways that please and bless you and others. Let what you want for all of us be what I really, really want – and a motivation in my life. Amen.
Tim is a recently retired LCANZ pastor. He enjoys spending time with family, connecting with neighbours and gardening.
Do you really want to be free?
by Tim Klein
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If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations …? (Colossians 2:20)
Read Colossians 2:11–20a
And we’re still on about life, death and freedom this week – day five!
I recently received one of those government health letters inviting me to do the ‘poo test’ – you know the one (at least you probably do if you’re over 50). Here’s a regulatory letter. Will I submit?
I self-administered the test, and bang, less than a week later, I was told that I needed a colonoscopy. Thankfully, there was no indication of any cancerous growth, only several small polyps removed on the spot. Thank you, Lord.
Along the way, I had blood tests. My surgeon identified some anomalies. Long story short, within a very short space of time, I was diagnosed as coeliac.
Now, it seems I must die to my love of bread products – anything containing gluten. The rules and regulations of coeliac disease are very clear: no more pizza, cakes, sourdough breads or cream buns.
I’m thinking about this in the light of Colossians 2:20. I’m faced with a choice: obey the coeliac regulations and give up gluten, or continue as though the disease does not affect me. It’s a kind of ‘to sin or not to sin’. I’m well aware of the consequences either way.
In a way, knowing I have this disease frees me up to make choices that, in the long term, are better for me than if I hadn’t known.
That has some connection with Colossians 2:20 – and even Romans 7:15: I do not understand what I do. What I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do. I now know gluten is very bad for me, but I still want creamy honey doughnuts.
Of course, this word in Colossians is not about gluten; it’s about temptation, submission to the law and freedom. I must ask myself: Do I really want to be free? Do I truly desire to love life and see good days? We will take up that question tomorrow …
Lord, we hear you say in Galatians 5:1, ‘It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.’ Prompt us with your Holy Spirit to stand firm in the freedom you have won for us. Amen.
Tim is a recently retired LCANZ pastor. He enjoys spending time with family, connecting with neighbours and gardening.
Free?
by Tim Klein
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian (Galatians 3:24,25).
Read Galatians 3:23–25
Through this week, we’ve been talking about winning and losing: about eternal life and where that sits in our relationship with Jesus. Today’s reading from Galatians connects this with the law and faith.
In everyday life, we learn that if we do the right thing according to the law, we live; if we do wrong, we die. We know and experience the law as a boundary to the way we live.
But now in these verses, as in much of Paul’s writing, we are pointed to a new freedom. We are no longer bound by the law. It’s not that the law has nothing to say to us; rather, we now live with a new freedom.
If we still lived under the law, we would remain bound to death – there’s no other way because none of us can perfectly fulfil the law. We sin, and the message from Romans 6:23 is that sin pays out in death (the wages of sin).
In these verses, the law is described as a guardian – something that surrounds and guides us in life. As human beings, we feel constrained by the law of what we can and cannot do. It’s not like a concrete wall – more like an electric fence. If we touch it, we get a shock and back off. We can push through the fence and go our own way, but the damage is done. Our freedom is limited.
But here in these verses, we learn about a new guardian, not a fence, but faith. Now our lives are guided by faith. Even if we barge through the electric fence, faith invites us to turn back to Jesus for mercy, healing and comfort.
This gives us a new freedom that is guaranteed by and found in Jesus.
Thank you, dear Lord, for the gift of faith and the freedom we find in this gift. Keep our lives safe and surrounded by your love and mercy. Keep us turning to you when we find ourselves trapped and burdened by sin. Thank you for the freedom that only you can give. Amen.
Tim is a recently retired LCANZ pastor. He enjoys spending time with family, connecting with neighbours and gardening.