The Three-Fold Cord; Eccl. 3-6

May the mumbling commence!

Today’s reading takes me to the Scripture passage that my wife and I used for our wedding.  Read it below:

            Two are better than one,

                        because they have a good return for their work:

            If one falls down,

                        his friend can help him up.

            But pity the man who falls

                        and has no one to help him up!

            Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.

                        But how can one keep warm alone?

            Though one may be overpowered,

                        two can defend themselves.

            A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.  (Eccl. 4:9-12)

It was not the intent of my wife and I that you would think that to be complete you need to be married.  Not so!  One cannot be complete without God.  For this reason, we emphasized the last sentence of the passage.  I am a strand, Anita (my wife) is a strand, and the Lord is the third strand.  The true benefit of being complete does not come from marriage to any human.  To be truly complete, one must marry themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ.  If this part is missing, then you will quickly find that marriage will not solve any of your problems – in fact, marriage will only add another set of new problems to the mix.  Without Jesus, our lives will be hollow, incomplete.  Read from Ecclesiastes 3:9-14 –

What does the worker gain from his toil?  I have seen the burden God has laid on men.  He has made everything beautiful in its time.  He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from the beginning to the end.  I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.  That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil – this is the gift of God.  I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him. 

So, let us bind ourselves to the Lord rather than money or wealth or possessions.  We can take none of these things with us when we die.  There is nothing better for us to do than be content and be joyful.  There is nothing better to do than do good while we live.  In these ways, we will be lead into true reverence for our Great Creator.  Let us bind ourselves to Christ.  Nothing and no one else will complete us!

In honor of Ecclesiastes 6:11 –

            The more the words,

                        the less the meaning,

                        and how does that profit anyone?

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out