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Saturday, November 06, 2004
Yesterday, we looked at the nature of God's blessings...and there can be a tendency for people to look at the simplicity of what the psalmist mentioned as blessings (food, shelter & family) and then take a position that anything beyond that is a waste.
But when you look at Ecclesiastes 3, you get a different perspective.
"There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven--
A time to give birth and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to tear down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to throw stones, and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrance, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to search, and a time to give up what is lost;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away;
A time to tear apart, and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate;
A time for war, and a time for peace."
If you keep reading the chapter, you'll see that God has given a time for everything under the sun as well as setting eternity in their hearts.
So, it's possible to have more than just the basics to live and enjoy those blessings, too.
A good example of this is a wedding and reception. I mean, let's be honest. You pay too much money for a dress, and bridesmaids need dresses and shoes. Groomsmen rent tuxedos at about $150 bucks each. A small fortune is spent on flowers and photographers and videographers and candles and runners for the aisle and musicians and gifts for everybody and on and on and on.
The reception is full of cakes and snacks and maybe alchohol and maybe even a sit down dinner.
The honeymoon is an expensive vacation.
But, there's a time for celebration. A time to dance. A time to laugh. A time to embrace. And, if you want to enjoy the fruit of your labor to do those in lavish fashion, well, that's a blessing from God that He's provided resources to do that with.
And it could be a nice car. Or a pool for your home. Or maybe books. Or some nice clothes.
We shouldn't be afraid of these things, and sometimes the Christian community denegrates these things because of "higher" priorities (forgetting that Jesus mentioned that we'll always have the poor with us when a woman spent a year's wages on a perfume bottle to bless Him with).
There's a time for everything, including enjoyment of God's abundant provision.
Brent 7:20 AM
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