October 10-What is Good?

Happy Wednesday! I hope things are going well for you this week. Please don't forget to pray for those in Florida and along the gulf coast who are in the path of the hurricane. 


Since it’s fall and the store is full of candy corn and those awesome little pumpkins, I think I’ve gained 10 pounds! I just keep buying them. A couple of years ago, my aunt showed me how much better that candy is when you mix a can of peanuts with it...WOW! I can literally make myself sick on it. It is just so good!!


What do you think is "good?" Your most enjoyable pleasure--is it something you see? Hear? Smell? Touch? Taste? Do you like a good massage? Or a great steak dinner? A concert? In the Old Testament the Hebrew word translated pleasure is SIMKHAH and it literally means enjoyment from the physical senses. It is used as positive, negative, or even neutral in relation to right and wrong. In the book of Ecclesiastes when Solomon talks about SIMKHAH, he's not referring to sin, but rather the pursuit of making our life all about things that are good and pleasurable. Solomon tells us (from his experience) it simply doesn't work. 


“I said to myself, “Come on, let’s try pleasure. Let’s look for the ‘good things’ in life.” But I found that this, too, was meaningless.” Ecclesiastes‬ ‭2:1‬ ‭NLT‬‬


Anything we put in front of our relationship with Christ, regardless of what it is, does not satisfy the soul. And when we are in the middle of looking for the next “good thing” we already have our eye on the next one. Living only for “good things” never satisfies. Our kids, jobs, food, sports, golf, our house, and even our Christian service—none of them “bad”—but when those things become what we live for, then our lives are, as Solomon said, meaningless. 


“Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.” 1 John‬ ‭2:15‬ ‭NLT‬‬


Dear Lord, thank you for loving me and help us today to love you above all things and make sure there is nothing nor anyone above you. Show us your ways Lord, and teach us how to make our lives have meaning. You are our God and we are you people. We praise your holy name and we worship the one true God, the Great I Am. Thank you for your marvelous grace and mercy to us who are so undeserving. Your love is overwhelming. Amen and amen. 


Love you friend,

Pam


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