King Solomon, the Preacher of Ecclesiastes, did a whole lot of searching by wisdom all the things of this life to find out one main truth--what is man's purpose on this earth? He came to a final conclusion, as the picture above states. We find that in Ecclesiastes 12:13. In all his musings, in all his considering all the things of this earth and what man can do, he realized that everything else is vanity--empty, without profit, and unsatisfying. Our whole duty is to fear God and keep His commandments--Why because as Solomon points out in many different verses throughout Ecclesiastes--at some point everyone us will die ad stand before God who is our final judge. If we are to keep the commandments where do we start after all there are 613 of them! Jesus helped us in Matthew 22:36-40 with the answer to how we can keep them. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” 37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Love God and love people--it's that simple! At least it should be.
Let's discuss this message!
We went through the whole book of Ecclesiastes (a little from each chapter)--talk about something that stood out to you that you were surprised to learn or simply never heard before.
Talk about your thoughts about the Final Conclusion. Did it surprise you or cause things to come clearer for you--what did you really think when you heard it?
Love God and Love People--this is really how we keep the commandments--what changed in your thinking in regards to this if anything? Can we really love people without loving God? What has held you back in your ability to love God with all of yourself? (Multiple questions in one I know--answer as many as you like simply be real about it)
Lastly, talk about your aha or ouch moment that changed something for you.
Something that stood out:
All is vanity(unsatisfying). We can know all the things, do all there is to do, and accomplish all there is that should be gratifying but without loving God and loving others it ultimately is unsatisfying. I particularly liked Bishop’s side note of it being void-it’s completely empty, not legally binding. We can’t make ourselves and we can’t save ourselves apart from loving Him.
Thoughts about the Final Conclusion: Fear God and keep His commandments. It’s what’s required of us all, sinner and saint alike. I was once again reminded to keep it simple. Love God and living people will stem from loving Him first. Love God and Love People/Aha: We can’t help others, lead others, or love others apart…
What stood out to me is the statement- The more you know the more you realize you don't know, because we are not God! An interesting thing about gaining knowledge is once a question is answered then we have a few more questions to dig into it even more. There is always an endless supply of things to figure out. There is nothing wrong with learning things, but it is not the purpose of life. Those that love their life just to keep gaining knowledge will never be satisfied.
As for the final conclusion, I like how Elder Christy summed it up. Nothing really matters outside of loving God and loving people! We don't have to make it complicated.
My…
Something that stood out to me from our time in Ecclesiastes is that two are better than one. The enemy wants to single people out so that it's easy for them to fall and stay fallen because there is no one else there to help pull them up. It's a direct reflection of the "love people" part of the conclusion of it all....love God, love people. God reached out His hand to us through His son and pulled us up out of the hole we were in. Loving people is being an extended hand out of the fallen parts of life.
This is what we are meant for. To keep the commandments so that we don't fall into the "holes…
In Ecclesiastes it talks about the value of two are better than one in verse 10 it talks what if they fail one will lift up his companion but woe to him who is alone cuz there's no one there to help when he falls. I think the necessity of not being alone in the fight many times can be overlooked because we try to fight the devil by ourselves. It's important to recognize when we are in need of help and encouragement. Yes we're not alone and help is coming from God but it's very important to not be outnumbered and their strength and determination is strength and hope for us in our fight to know that we're…
Great message Elder Christy! My ears definitely perked up as you taught on my favorite book Ecclesiastes :D.
This Love God and Love People was very fresh on my mind. Elder Christy right in tune what what we need and what I just experienced. I had this feeling of relationship slipping away with God, hard to grasp onto, the missing of that loving feeling. Then I had the opportunity to go and show love to my neighbor and pray for her. Once I really saw her there, the fear and pain she was going through, and made a space for God to be there through prayer, seeing and experiencing the presence of the Father, us both in tears as she…