Anglican Daily Fountain Devotional 30 October 2021 Saturday Message
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Topic: Abundance Or Vanity: Choose Wisely
TEXT: Ecclesiastes 5:11-20 (NKJV)
11. When goods increase, They increase who eat them; So what profit have the owners Except to see [them] with their eyes?
- The sleep of a laboring man [is] sweet, Whether he eats little or much; But the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep.
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There is a severe evil [which] I have seen under the sun: Riches kept for their owner to his hurt.
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But those riches perish through misfortune; When he begets a son, [there is] nothing in his hand.
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As he came from his mother’s womb, naked shall he return, To go as he came; And he shall take nothing from his labor Which he may carry away in his hand.
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And this also [is] a severe evil — Just exactly as he came, so shall he go. And what profit has he who has labored for the wind?
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All his days he also eats in darkness, And [he has] much sorrow and sickness and anger.
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Here is what I have seen: [It is] good and fitting [for one] to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it [is] his heritage.
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As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor — this [is] the gift of God.
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For he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life, because God keeps [him] busy with the joy of his heart.
Anglican Daily Fountain Devotional 30 October 2021 STUDY:
In continuation of the second phase of yesterday’s passage, focusing on charity, the preacher explained further the conditions of two men he noticed under the sun. First, the man who got his riches through his labour and how God favoured his labour with enough blessings such as sweet sleep, peace of mind, and contentment (vv. 12, 18-20). Second, the man who acquired wealth in a dubious means to satisfy his self-desire and the consequent results like misfortune, sorrow, sickness, vanity, etc. (vv. 11, 13-17).
It is time we need to check our lives as Christians. Many have forgotten that our journey in this world is but a pilgrimage. We are Christian Pilgrims and are not to be carried away with material pursuit. We have a lasting home where we have all things in abundance. It is time to choose wisely what to pursue as Christians.
This is a call to live our lives in a way that pleases the Lord. Yes, God has favoured our labour to bring us riches. Despite this, we should be very careful and make use of our riches judiciously considering the benefit of others around us. Lastly, we should not be carried away by our wealth (Luke 12:16-21), lest we labour for the wind (Eccl. 5:16).
PRAYER: Help me, Oh Lord, to always be contented with the abundance in You, and never to set my heart on vanity. Amen.
Daily Fountain Quote of the Day
And I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”— Luke 11:9-10
Anglican Daily Fountain Devotional 30 October 2021 Message. The Church of Nigeria is the Anglican church in Nigeria. It is the second-largest province in the Anglican Communion, as measured by baptized membership, after the Church of England.