Men since the ancient times has been preoccupied in amassing riches
to improve his life. In his effort to
improve his living condition he has forgotten God and the true reason for being in
this world.12E.1 Could man benefit from his
acquired earthly glory when he dies?
Psalm 49:16-17 provides the answer:
Do not be afraid when one becomes rich, When the glory of his house is increased;
For when he dies he shall carry nothing away; His glory shall not descend after him.
(NKJV)
Obviously, man will not benefit from his earthly glory or from any
earthly riches he has reaped in his lifetime. When he dies " he
shall carry nothing away" and "his glory shall not
descend after him."
12E.2
How does King Solomon, the wisest and one of the riches king, say about the reality of man's earthly life?
It is not surprising, why King Solomon lamented: In Ecclesiastes 2:17, it is
written:
Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.
(NKJV)
The same verse in another version of the Bible for clarity:
So I hated life, because the work that is
done under the sun was grievous to me. All is meaningless, a
chasing after the wind. (NIV)
He declared that the reality of man's earthly life is
vanity or meaningless.
In verse 22-23, he writes further:
For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun?
For all his days are sorrowful, and his work grievous; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.
(NKJV)
The same verse in another version of the Bible:
What does a man get for all the toil and
anxious striving with which he labors under the sun?
All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does
not rest. This too is meaningless. (NIV)
It is not ironical for a man as rich
and as wise as King Solomon to say that all man's days are sorrowful, and that man's heart "takes
no rest in the night". He even declared that all the work he
had done was grievous to him and all are meaningless.
12E.3
What should a man realize
about greed and insatiable pursuit of wealth
which add anxieties and sap the joy out of life?
In Luke
12:15, the Lord Jesus said this:
And he went on to
say to them all, "Watch out and guard
yourselves from every kind of greed;
because a person's true life is not made
up of the things he owns, no matter how
rich he may be."
(TEV)
A person's
true life is not made up of the things he
owns, no matter how rich he may be.
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Ironical, yet true for hasn't the
science of economics concluded that man's desire or wants are
insatiable? Man, even if he could manage to prosper in a world
where scarcity of resources is undeniable reality, will never find
true and permanent happiness in this temporary world. This is
true whether man who is constantly hounded by death accepts it or not.
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