Evening, December 2
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I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, and have found them all to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.  — Ecclesiastes 1:14
Bible League: Living His Word
There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after.
— Ecclesiastes 1:11 ESV

"Vanity of vanities," says King Solomon. "What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?" (Ecclesiastes 1:2-3). In the context of Ecclesiastes as a whole, what Solomon is saying is that everything that people do under the sun is a meaningless, vain endeavor when it is done as an end in itself. Why? It's because everything that people do is ephemeral—it comes and goes. The passage of time, sooner or later, sweeps away the projects and efforts of mere human beings.

This fact of human existence should force us to ask the question: "For what am I living?" It makes no sense to live for things, because they do not last. Further, it makes no sense to live for fame that the things you do may bring you, because that won't last either. As our verse for today says, "There is no remembrance of former things." No one will personally remember you or all the toil for which you lived.

Even famous historical figures, like Julius Caesar and Genghis Kahn, are not truly remembered. No one living now personally knew them. Their names are just words in history books. Their projects and efforts are words on the pages of books that will soon be forgotten.

There's only one thing you can do that will have eternal significance and value. You can live for God. You can serve God in everything you do. He will never forget you and what you have done. He will remember your faith and service, and He will show His steadfast love through all eternity.

May we be about the kingdom of God, that we might one day hear from our Savior, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
Bible in a Year
Old Testament Reading
Ezekiel 47, 48


Ezekiel 47 -- Holy Water from the Temple; Boundaries Set

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Ezekiel 48 -- Division of the Land: Priests, Prince, Tribes, Gates

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New Testament Reading
1 John 1


1 John 1 -- The Word of Life; God Is Light

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Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library.
Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion
For the law never made anything perfect. But now we have confidence in a better hope, through which we draw near to God.
Insight
How can you draw near to God? The Bible makes it clear that your own body is God's temple. Your spirit needs and wants closeness to God. You want to know the living God personally, not as an idea or concept, not as a distant monarch. You can draw near to God through prayer, worship, and Bible meditation. You need not live like a monk, but you probably need more prayer in your life. The habit of worship has become a convenience to be wedged between sports, and other recreations.
Challenge
Instead, make worship your top priority. Bible meditation may include verse memory, songs, and quiet personal reading. The Bible is the Word of God for you. Use it every day and you will draw nearer to God.
Morning and Evening by Spurgeon
Ecclesiastes 1:14  Behold, all is vanity.

Nothing can satisfy the entire man but the Lord's love and the Lord's own self. Saints have tried to anchor in other roadsteads, but they have been driven out of such fatal refuges. Solomon, the wisest of men, was permitted to make experiments for us all, and to do for us what we must not dare to do for ourselves. Here is his testimony in his own words: "So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labor: and this was my portion of all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun." "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." What! the whole of it vanity? O favored monarch, is there nothing in all thy wealth? Nothing in that wide dominion reaching from the river even to the sea? Nothing in Palmyra's glorious palaces? Nothing in the house of the forest of Lebanon? In all thy music and dancing, and wine and luxury, is there nothing? "Nothing," he says, "but weariness of spirit." This was his verdict when he had trodden the whole round of pleasure. To embrace our Lord Jesus, to dwell in his love, and be fully assured of union with him--this is all in all. Dear reader, you need not try other forms of life in order to see whether they are better than the Christian's: if you roam the world around, you will see no sights like a sight of the Saviour's face; if you could have all the comforts of life, if you lost your Saviour, you would be wretched; but if you win Christ, then should you rot in a dungeon, you would find it a paradise; should you live in obscurity, or die with famine, you will yet be satisfied with favor and full of the goodness of the Lord.

Daily Light on the Daily Path
Hebrews 10:22  let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Hebrews 9:13,14  For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, • how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Hebrews 12:24  and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.

Ephesians 1:7  In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace

Hebrews 9:19,21,22  For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, • And in the same way he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood. • And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org.

Morning December 2
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