Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

Tuesday * March 3


A SEASON FOR EVERYTHING

READ:
Ecclesiastes 3:1
_____________________________________________________________________________________
To everything there
is a season, a time
for every purpose
under heaven.
____________________________________________________________________________________

If you're like me, you've struggled with having to say no to taking on a new responsibility__especially if it's for a good cause and directly related to helping others. We may have sound reasons for carefully selecting our priorities. Yet sometimes, by not agreeing to do more, we may feel guilty or we may think that somehow we have failed in our walk of faith.

But according to Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, wisdom recognizes that everything in life has its own season__in human activities as in the realm of nature. "There is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven" (v.1).

Perhaps you are getting married or becoming a parent for the first time. Maybe you are leaving school and entering the workforce, or moving from fulltime work to retirement. As we move from season to season, our priorities change. We may need to put aside what we did in the past and funnel our energy into something else.

When life bring changes in our circumstances and obligations, we must responsibly and wisely discern what kind of commitments we should make, seeking in whatever we do to "do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 1031). Proverbs 3:6 promises that as we acknowledge Him in all our ways, He will guide us in the way we should go.

```````````Heavenly Father, give me Your wisdom to know what priorities I need to
have at this season of my life. Guide me in all that I do. I only want to bring
You the honor You deserve with the way I live.___________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Commitment to Christ is a daily calling that challenges us.

*************************************Today's Bible Reading : Ecclesiastes 3:1-13**********************************
1 To everything there is a season, a time fore every
purpose under heaven:

2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant,
and a time to pluck what is planted; 3 a time to kill, and
a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and
a time to dance; 5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to
gather stones; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from
embracing; 6 a time to gain, and a time to lose; a time to keep,
and a time to throw away; 7 a time to speak; 8 a time to love,
and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

9 What profit has the worker from that in which he labors?
10 I have seen the God_given task with which the sons of men
are to be occupied. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its
time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no
one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

12 I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice,
and to do good in their lives, 13 and also that every man
should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor__it is
the gift of God.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
The book of Ecclesiastes shows what life is
like without God (1:1-2) and reminds us to include Him in our lives
(12:1). In today's passage, Solomon affirms God's sovereignty over all
human life (3:11). He observes that we are time-bound, experiencing
between birth and death a complexity of events (vv.2-8)/ God is in
control of our lives, making "everything beautiful in its time" (v.11).