Pay Attention

‘Sorrow is better than laughter, for sadness has a refining influence on us’ Ecc.7:3

When you weigh everything that is really bothering you in light of eternity what does it amount to? If you check a funeral suit, there are no pockets because you cannot take your wallet with you. Your mobile phone someone else is going to use it. And who ever insists on being buried dressed in gold or with precious stones so they can bribe the angels on the way because some people think like that. After they have put them in the ground, that same night the people that will exhume the body and collect the jewelry are waiting. ‘Better to spend your time at funerals than at parties. After all, everyone dies- so the living should take this to heart.’ Ecc.7:2. One day I was at a friend’s mother’s funeral again just watching everyone. Then my eyes settled on his father and I saw the pain on his face. Even though I am praying that I live to a ripe old age and have many children, it was while staring at the pain and sorrow on that man’s face that I said to God, ‘if it will please You, take me before my wife because I really can’t bear this pain’. I can’t even think about it. It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting. Pay attention to the instructions you receive in the place of mourning or in the place of sadness.

What you mourn or grieve for reveals what you really value. What you don’t mourn or grieve for also reveals what you value. If something happens, perhaps you do something really wrong and you do not grieve for it then you do not value your relationship with Jesus. I typically will not expect you to grieve when losing a pen but lets say you stumble on pornography because it is easy to stumble on pornographic sites these days,  you have to be proactive and protect yourself. The first thought is that you should close the page but the second thought is urging you to click the next button. If at the end of your pornographic escapade you don’t grieve that you have let God down because you have, it shows your values. Some of us need now begin to see that this is who we really are so that we can really seek God’s help.

Prayer:  Father, I come to You asking that You would reveal me to me. Let it please You to show me who I am so that I can live for You as I ought to, in Jesus Name.