Secular View versus Faith View V - Get things right ...

Friday, Oct 10, 2014. The secular view judges everything just from its worldly viewpoint. God does not exist. The faith view looks into what God says, how he guides us. We get access to his presence on many layers of our life. It is such a difference! This morning, I have been reading a part of ecclesiastes, the letters of the wise (the word means teacher or preacher).

Get things right …

One of the key points of ecclesiastes is to set your heart onto the right goals. The author talks about the setup of our life. He talks about experiences, about wealth or poverty, but also about enjoying life, about the purpose of life, and whether we have the feeling that we live a life full of purpose.

The letters of ecclesiastes are a part of the bible, of the Old Testament. But their focal point is in some of its parts not that evangelical in the sense that they prepare the Gospels and the story about Jesus, the messiah. They talk about a life which lives knowing God, but more about the vanity of everything in life. The New Testament has a much deeper sense of the value of life, of nothing being vain, since God loves every individual. The love of God is not very much present in the letters of the preacher, the ecclesiastes.

I love these letters. I have loved them since I was a young boy. They were the first letters of the bible which I understood, or better: which I found to have access to. They put life into perspective. If there are big things in your life which cause problems, then read ecclesiastes, and they will be much smaller afterwards!

Combine Old and New Testament …

In contrast to the New Testament, which takes everything very serious, every word, here you even get the advice NOT to take things too serious:

21 Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you— 22 for you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others. (Ecc 7, 21-22) On the basis of this insight, we have easier access to forgive, as Jesus commands us to do day by day.

Get things right is an important point of the letters of the teacher. Balance your activities. Understand that bad things happen to good people, and that good things happen to bad people, and that you need to see the bigger picture. Understand that God gives to all, that he loves all, and that he wants us all to be upright and good.

I think we need both: the insight of the letters of ecclesiastes, and the hope and grace which the New Testament brings. Grace has not yet ended. Hope is not vain! Preacher, you see the vanity of things, but Jesus brings hope into everything. God himself started a journey, to be among us, to live with us, in Jesus, and to save us. There is still grace left for you and for me. (Roland Potthast) ... more texts