From Pastor Ben

Trivia:

Which U.S. state is known by the nickname "The Garden State"? Is it Philadelphia, or Vermont, maybe it's Rhode Island, or even New Jersey? Make your guess, more tomorrow.

Challenge:

Ecclesiastes 7:27, 28:

“ 'This is my conclusion,' says the Teacher. 'I discovered this after looking at the matter from every possible angle. 28 Though I have searched repeatedly, I have not found what I was looking for. Only one out of a thousand men is virtuous, but not one woman!' "

The preacher Solomon, after searching for a person who is virtuous in his world, concluded this hard truth. No one is without sin. He found the very truth of Romans 3:23 "All have sinned and falls short of the glory of God." In other words, though there are some people who strive to be virtuous, no one in and of himself has the capability of being sinless.

Paul came to this very same realization, in Romans 3:28 "So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law." Solomon in all of his wisdom was confronted with this same reality, that Paul spoke of. We are not of ourselves virtuous, or righteous, we are only made righteous through the realization that we can only become upright through receiving Christ's forgiveness. Only God can make man upright.

We face this very same struggle that Solomon, Paul, the disciples, and all of mankind faced. We are weak and heavy laden. Regardless of our attempts to be righteous, we are unable to attain this condition on our own. There is no amount of obedience to the law that can bring virtue to mankind.

Ecclesiastes 7:28: "Though I have searched repeatedly, I have not found what I was looking for." This is not a literal statement, rather it is an expression of the limitation of humans to personally attain righteousness. In fact, going back to verse 20 we are reminded of this truth "Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins."

In the Book of Proverbs, Solomon asked the same question: “Who can find a faithful man?” (Proverbs 20:6).

In our world today, there are many people who want to blame God for the evil in our world, and so as a result of this attitude, determine the only solution is to reject His existence. This realization is naturally a stumbling stone to us. When we refuse to recognize our need of forgiveness from God, our tendency to fall into sin makes it impossible outside of repentance to gain fellowship with Him.

Throughout Solomon's life, he sought repeatedly for a perfect person, but had never been able to find a single one. In fact, everyone he met had some flaws or weaknesses of character. A great philosopher made this conclusion, "When the womanhood of a nation is noble, the national life is held in strength. When it is corrupt, the nation is doomed. Woman is the last stronghold of good or of evil. Compassion and cruelty are superlative in her. With the advent of the Christian faith, woman has reached the summit in her rise to dignity and respect. The Lord Jesus is her truest Friend and Emancipator." - G. Cambell Morgan

SO GO WITH GOD, for when we do anchor ourselves in Him, we see that Solomon was looking for a person of virtue in the wrong place. If you want counsel, if you want friendship, if you want to find strong, meaningful relationships, look for them among the people of God. You'll be surprised at the wisdom resident there.

Tomorrow we will be able to see just how Solomon brought this thought into a clearer view point.