What is your favorite possession? Mine is my shiny
black piano. In fact, I was very upset a couple years ago when James
accidentally chipped one of the main keys when he happened to be throwing coins
in the air. In fact, we now have a rule that nothing gets thrown in the air in
the living room and no toy is to ever touch the piano. 😊
I don’t know what Solomon’s favorite possession
was, but he certainly didn’t lack anything. Just as he didn’t find satisfaction
from chasing after wisdom, wealth, pleasure or greatness, apart from God’s
plans. He also found chasing after possessions equally meaningless, apart from
God.
Ecclesiastes 2:17-25 17 So I
hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All
of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 18 I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who
comes after me. 19 And who
knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have
control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and
skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. 20 So my heart began to
despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. 21 For a person may labor
with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to
another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great
misfortune.22 What do
people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under
the sun? 23 All their days their work
is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is
meaningless.
24 A
person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction
in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God,25 for without him, who can
eat or find enjoyment?
You’ve heard the sayings: “You can’t take it with
you;” and “No u-haul behind a hearse.” Solomon had worked hard and accumulated
much, but realized he wouldn’t take it with him and he had no control over what
happened to it after he left.
I do want to teach my children to take care of
their property and especially treat other people’s property with care. However,
it’s far more important I leave behind a spiritual legacy of faith and trust in
God than a perfect piano! Their spiritual inheritance is eternal while their
earthly inheritance is not.
Where else are you and I more focused on
possessions (accumulating and protecting them) than on our relationship with
God and the impact that has on others around us? Let’s focus on our eternal
legacy!
Alice
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