Dear children, let's not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.
(1Jn 3:18 NLT)
And we will receive from Him whatever we ask because we obey Him and do the things that please Him.
(1Jn 3:22 NLT)
We work so hard to live “the good life” that sometimes we forget the best life is a blessed life. As a father I have tried to instill in my children that in order to be blessed they had to do what was right – work hard at school, do their chores, be kind to one another, and listen and obey their parents. It has not always worked, too often I’ve seen them pick up an attitude of entitlement from their peers and to be honest we do the same with God many times as adults. Just as this attitude discussed me as a parent because it was dishonoring and disrespectful and took what I offered for granted I imagine God feels much the same way when we, as His children act this way. The results of this behavior yielded the opposite of blessings, which often caused frustration in the child.
Have you ever seen an adult who was so driven and self-motivated that the world placed them on a pedestal as an example of what a successful person looks like? Many times this adult was a child who did not understand the correlation between obedience and blessings and so he/she relied on themselves to obtain what they wanted out of life but does their striving make them strong, does their endless pushing bring them any closer to what they are missing or does it send them down a dead end road, further from the truth? You see we were created to desire our Creator’s blessings but they are only obtained through listening and obeying but the enemy lies to us, telling us there is a shortcut but no matter how hard we work the best we can do is obtain stuff that temporarily brings happiness. King David’s son Solomon said this…
"Everything is meaningless," says the Teacher, "completely meaningless!" What do people get for all their hard work under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes.
(Ecc 1:2-4 NLT)
Solomon was the wisest person who ever lived and had riches beyond compare if anyone could obtain enough stuff to make them happy surely it was him but through arrogance or ignorance we strive just the same unless we are listening to God’s still small voice, which leads us to the truth and to fulfillment in this life.
