🛑 Ecclesiastes 12:13 | "Here is the conclusion"

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📧 In today’s email…

• Putting together everything we learned this week 🧠 

• A call to take the narrow gate ✝️

• How to fear and follow 🛤️

• In case you missed it... 🧐

 🧠 Memorize

_{see if you know what words go in the blanks}

The ___ __ ___ ______; all ___ ____ _____.

Fear ___ ___ ____ ___ ____________, for ____ __ ___ _____ ____ __ ___.

Ecclesiastes 12:13

A review of what we’ve learned 🤔 

We’ve learned a lot about the background of Ecclesiastes 12:13. Here are the highlights:

• Author: Unknown, but Solomon is traditionally attributed as the author

• Audience: We can assume it is written for Judahites who think they have life figured out, who are comfortable with their financial and political situation, leading them to not rely on God.

• Purpose: Ecclesiastes attempts to “unsettle” its readers while advocating that leaning on God is the only suitable path for living.

We learned that the Teacher of Ecclesiastes realized that only one thing has eternal meaning:

Following God.

We’ve broken down the two parts of the verse.

• “Fear God”

  • In this verse, “fear” must to revere or be in awe of

  • Scripture says all knowledge and wisdom starts with a healthy fear of God

  • We fear God by remembering our place and staying humble

• “keep his commandments”

  • Following God requires action

  • Jesus said the most important commands were to love God and love others.

  • If we struggle to want to be loving, we can start with our actions, and through the Spirit, our feelings will follow

The author’s conclusion to this book — the result of the extensive personal study — is that the only fulfilling way to live life is to fear and follow God.

It takes the right attitude.

And the right actions.

🛤️ The Path to Life ✝️ 

If it were easy to fear and follow God, everyone would be doing it perfectly!

In reality, our sinful nature distorts our ability to have a proper relationship with God and the people around us.

More often than not, we fall short in loving God and loving our neighbors.

Jesus says,

If you want to take the road to life, Ecclesiastes gives you the recipe.

Through Jesus, we can follow the hard teachings. We can live the life God has designed us for. We can take the narrow road that leads to life.

Why?

Because Jesus is the Way, Truth, and Life.

Thanks to Jesus’ death and resurrection, and the work of the Holy Spirit in us, we can overcome our sinful nature and fulfill our original duty as humankind.

So this weekend, take the narrow gate by loving God and loving others!

Apply and Respond: The Meaningful Way 🛤️

Here are some practical ways we can fear God and keep his commands in our daily lives:

• 📖 Read Scripture: To follow God’s commandments, we have to know what they are!

• 🙇‍♂️ Practice humility: Understand that God is greater than you by ensuring pride doesn’t get out of control. Know your limitations and praise God for being all-knowing and all-powerful.

• 🙏 Pray about everything. Go to God for even insignificant decisions, asking God to fill you with wisdom and strength. Nothing is too small for God.

• 🫂Get in community: We are stronger together! It is much harder to follow God’s commandments if we go at it alone. Instead, find friends and family who will keep you accountable and encourage you to take the narrow road.

Resources to help you dig deeper 🌿 

In case you missed it, here’s this week’s round-up of recommended resources to help you abide in the vine:

• 📹️ Ecclesiastes animated explainer video by The Bible Project (link here)

• 📕 The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis. Public domain because it’s from the 15th century—but still good stuff! (link here)

• 📚️ Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do by Paul David Tripp (link here)

• 📚️ The Awe of God by John Bevere (link here)

• 🤝 Support Malachi Daily so we can reach more people with God’s Word (link here)

Answer key ✅ 

The end of the matter; all has been heard.

Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

Ecclesiastes 12:13

How did you do? 💡