2021-03-23
Prediker 2:18-19 NLV
As jy harder werk kan jy meer geld verdien, maar jy kan nie meer tyd verdien nie.
Daar is ‘n verhaal van ‘n man wat die laat skof by ‘n fabriek gewerk het en in die vroeë oggendure huis toe gestap het. Een nag het hy ‘n kortpad deur die begraafplaas gevat. Hy het nie die nuwe graf wat in die middel van sy pad gegrawe is gesien nie en in die graf geval. Na verskeie onsuksesvolle pogings om uit te klim, het hy besluit om te ontspan tot die oggend wanneer iemand hom sou kon help. Soos hy half aan die slaap in die hoekie van die graf gesit het, het ‘n mede-reisiger wat bietjie oorbodig by die kroeg gekuier het, langs hom ingeval. Die dronkie was desperaat om uit te kom en het begin skree en woes by die graf probeer uitkom. Op daardie punt het ons held sy arm uitgesteek, saggies aan die dronk man se been gevat en gesê: ‘Dit gaan nie help nie, my vriend, ek het dit al probeer. Jy gaan nooit hier uitkom nie.’ Die dronk man het so groot geskrik dat hy met een groot sprong by die graf uitgespring het!
‘n Besoek aan die plaaslike begraafplaas sal jou dalk help om jou lewe te herevalueer en te herprioritiseer! Dit mag jou dalk, byvoorbeeld, aanmoedig om te stop en jouself af te vra waarvoor jy regtig lewe. Salomo het so ‘n openbaring gehad: ‘Alhoewel ek my werk met wysheid, kennis en vaardigheid doen, moet ek alles wat ek gekry het aan mense nalaat wat nie daarvoor gewerk het nie’ (geparafraseer).
Moenie net ‘n lewe maak nie; kom uit jou groef en maak ‘n verskil. Moenie net ‘n erfenis nalaat nie, laat ‘n nalatenskap na wat die mense wat jou volg, se lewens sal verryk.
Sielskos: Job 32-34; Matt 25:1-13; Ps 55:12-23; Spr 8:19-21
Ecclesiastes 2:18-19 NLT
If you work harder you can earn more money, but you can’t earn more time. To coin a popular song, “Time may be money, but your money won’t buy time.”
There’s a story about a guy who worked the late shift at a factory, who walked home in the wee hours. One night he took a shortcut through the cemetery. Failing to notice the new grave that had just been dug in the center of his path, he fell into it. After several unsuccessful attempts to get out, he decided to relax until morning when someone was around to help him. As he sat in the corner of the grave half asleep, a fellow traveler who had overindulged at the bar stumbled in beside him. Desperate to get out, the drunk started yelling and clawing frantically at the sides. At that point our hero reached out, touched him gently on the leg, and said, “It’s no use, friend, I’ve tried. You’ll never get out of here.” Not surprisingly – he did! He jumped out!
A periodic visit to the local cemetery might help you reevaluate and reprioritize your life! For example, it might encourage you to stop and ask yourself what you’re really living for. Solomon had an “aha moment” like that: “For though I do my work with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, I must leave everything I gain to people who haven’t worked for it” (paraphrased).
A rut is simply a grave with the ends kicked out. Don’t just make a living; get out of your rut and make a difference. Don’t just leave an inheritance; leave a legacy that will enrich the lives of those who follow you.
Soul food: Job 32-34; Matt 25:1-13; Ps 55:12-23; Prov 8:19-21
2021-03-22
John 15:12 NLT
Jesus said, ‘I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!’ (v.11 NLT). The ‘things’ that we must do to have His joy in our lives are outlined by Jesus in the next verse: ‘This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.’
That can feel like a pretty challenging commandment. We’ll have to do a lot of growing and maturing in order to keep it. But to enjoy the life Jesus wants us to have, we must commit ourselves to doing it.
God created all kinds of people with different temperaments and personalities, so He clearly loves variety. When God made the first person He said, ‘It was good.’ Not only are there varieties of people, but there’s ‘good’ in everybody and that’s what we need to be looking for.
A lot of our unhappiness in life is caused by people not being what we want them to be, or doing what we don’t want them to do. We often have unrealistic expectations of others, and sometimes we don’t even communicate those expectations with them. We think people will know how to love us.
So how can we enjoy each day if we’re going to have to deal with people we don’t get along with? We need to make up our minds to love them. In 1 John 4, it says: ‘Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love’ (1 John 4:7-8 NIV). We don’t have to like their ways, but we still have to try and see them through God’s eyes, and love them.
Job 29-31; Matt 24:36-51; Ps 55:1-11; Prov 8:17-18
John 15:12 NKJV
If love was a sentiment that depended on someone else’s actions and reactions, or an emotion over which you had no control, Jesus wouldn’t have said, “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” That means love is a choice you make. It’s initiated by your will.
Jesus also said, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you” (Luke 6:27-28 NKJV). And what He commands you to do, He will give you the grace to carry out.
For thousands of years (and to this day in some Eastern cultures), parents arranged their children’s marriages. Many brides and bridegrooms never saw each other until their wedding day. A certain young lady from India was to be married to a man she didn’t know. One day she received a letter from her fiancé, designed to acquaint her with him prior to the wedding. But the bride-to-be returned the letter unopened, saying she believed love should be developed after marriage, not before. “When we’re born,” she wrote, “we don’t get to choose our mother, father, brothers and sisters, yet we learn to live with them and to love them. So it is with a husband or wife.”
In societies that endorse this philosophy, divorce is almost nonexistent. Now, we’re not advocating arranged marriages, but the notion of “romantic love” that’s so prevalent today has little to do with a successful marriage. When you endeavor to love someone unconditionally the way Christ loves you, you experience joy and fulfillment.
Soul food: Job 29-31; Matt 24:36-51; Ps 55:1-11; Prov 8:17-18
Johannes 15:12 NLV
As liefde slegs ‘n sentiment was wat van iemand anders se aksies en reaksies afgehang het, of ‘n emosie was waaroor jy geen beheer gehad het nie, sou Jesus nie gesê het: ‘Dit is my opdrag: Julle moet mekaar liefhê soos Ek julle liefgehad het’ nie. Dit beteken dat liefde ‘n keuse is wat jy maak. Jesus het ook gesê: ‘…julle moet julle vyande liefhê. Doen goed aan dié wat julle haat. Seën dié wat julle vervloek. Bid vir hulle wat julle seermaak’ (Lukas 6:27-28 NLV). Hy sal ook vir jou die genade gee om dit te doen wat Hy jou beveel om te doen.
Vir duisende jare (en ook tot vandag nog in sommige Oosterse kulture), het ouers hulle kinders se huwelike gereël. Baie bruide en bruidegomme het eers op hul troudag mekaar vir die eerste keer ontmoet. ‘n Sekere jong dame van Indië moes met ‘n man trou wat sy nie geken het nie. Eendag het sy ‘n brief van haar verloofde ontvang, met die doel om hom voor die troue aan haar voor te stel. Die toekomstige bruid het egter die brief onoopgemaak teruggestuur, deur te sê dat sy glo dat die liefde na die troue ontwikkel moet word, nie voor dit nie.
‘Toe ons gebore is,’ het sy geskryf, ‘kon ons nie ons ma, pa, broers of susters kies nie en tog het ons geleer om saam met hulle te leef en hulle lief te hê. So is dit ook met man en vrou.’ In gemeenskappe wat hierdie filosofie nastreef, is skeisake amper ongehoord. Ons beveel nou nie gereëlde huwelike aan nie, maar die ‘romantiese liefde’ wat deesdae so algemeen is, het min te make met ‘n suksesvolle huwelik.
Wanneer jy daarna streef om iemand onvoorwaardelik lief te hê soos Christus jou liefhet, sal jy vreugde en vervulling ervaar.
Sielskos: Job 29-31; Matt 24:36-51; Ps 55:1-11; Spr 8:17-18
