What Profit a Man who has not invested in his Family

 

Today's lesson was very thought-provoking and well done.  I allow the Lord to speak to me as I listen to the many great commits.  Solomon was the smartest man that ever lived outside of the Godman Jesus, he sure got lost in himself.  That is not all that uncommon to man, but you would have thought a man with that much smart, would not have dropped the ball of life so much.

 

I need to reread  Ecclesiastes 2:18-23,  ^“I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.  So, I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun,  because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.  What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun?  For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night, his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.”

 

These thoughts flooded my mind, many a person is driven by I want to be in power, I want to have influence, I want to be prosperous, I want to have security, I believe that the first of these,(I want to have power) will lead a person to get their need met outside of Jesus.  It came at a great cost for Solomon, in that he sought many things, but did not invest in his sons.  Many a man today is making that same mistake, getting to the top, and letting the urgent rob them of the important, family.  Solomon’s sons were not taught wisdom, the seeking first the kingdom of God, and His rightlessness, and all these things will be added.

 

Many people are going down that same rabbit hole.  My niece and I had this discussion, she makes a six-figure income, and wonders if maybe Marxism might be better than Capitalism.  My niece's dad was all about himself and left his wife and kids, and it left them damaged.  This is my reply from her uncle who loves those kids.

 

But what I did not share strongly enough was I fully understand I was blessed by God; I will not take credit for what God has done; he has allowed us to manage what He has given us. I learned to work at an early age, we were poor but did not know that till much later in life.  But we were loved, and always had food to eat, and clothes to wear, most were patched or hand-me-downs.  But my parent love Jesus and my dad is one of the men I long to be like. The following is some of what I sent  my niece:  

 

 We are told that 14 to 20 million Illegals have come into our nation Under Biden & Harris and she has made the statement that we need equality.

 

Bernie  Sanders agrees with Harris he is also a lover of communists and approves of Harris's running mate, who calls China a good form of Government.

 

Now let me be blunt, I am not well educated, only two years of college, and I worked from 11-7 at a place called Corn Products cleaning out the oven and unloading bags of carbon in box cars, plus pulling samples from grain trucks, to pay for that college.  So, I’m not smart like many who ran up debt and now want the taxpayer to take care of their debt.  I would never have been that selfish.  But when many of you were playing video games at 12, I was working for H.E.B. making 60 cents an hour.

 

Got married at age 23,  still married to the same lady at the age of 82, and she is a wonderful lady.  Before we got married, I asked Jan if she wanted to be a slave to debt, and we agreed that was not a smart move, can you believe that, she never went to college, and as a high school student helped me pass college English.

 

Now that decision we made before getting married, has paid off big time, often we waited and waited for the funds to buy something we desired, and when we had saved the money, it was no longer a priority.  Now did that pay off, for 45, years we have been debt-free.  I worked for a good company but only in my last five years did I reach the six-figure salary.  But we saved our money, and we still control our spending, yet we have been blessed to be of help to both family and friends.  We are also able to support, not politicians, but people who risk their lives to share the gospel, with others like Samaritan’s Purse & the Jesus Film, which does great things for people all over the world.  Jan and I have been able to help do what they call mud out when a house has been damaged by water.

 

Now I have some questions you might enlighten me on.  I’ve not read anywhere that U.S. citizens are trying to get into Venezuela, Cuba, China, North Korea, Iran, China, or Russia.  But all of those countries have flooded our borders.  And some of you so-called enlightened, well-educated folks think we need equality.  To get that you got to take it from someone who has worked their buns off. 

 

Now the second question is are you so misinformed or ignorant of the Truth, that in all of those communist countries, there is a ruling group of tug that kills anyone that opposes them?

 

Now I come from a poor family, we work hard, and we love each other, we not only believe in God, but we worship Him and still do.  He has a name, and He loved you and desired to have a personal relationship with you, His name is Jesus the Christ, the one that Israel looked for but when He showed up as a servant and not a king, they rejected Him.  But they are still His chosen people.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice