WHAT'S YOUR PLEASURE? (2 OF 5)
by Jeff Strite
Scripture: Ecclesiastes 2:1-11
This content is part of a series.
What's Your Pleasure? (2 of 5)
Series: There Ain't Nothing Better
Jeff Strite
Ecclesiastes 2:1-11
OPEN: It was a 4th of July weekend and the family had gathered for a big meal together. In the kitchen was little 4 year old Johnny… and there on the edge of the cabinet sat the one thing he loved so much. It was a big, round, sure to be juicy, watermelon.
He just couldn't stop staring at it.
But everyone told him to leave it alone. That Mom and Dad would cut it up later. It was explained that it would be too hard for him to lift it and that if he tried he would drop it and it might split open on the floor.
But sure that he understood the danger, everyone went on about their business.
That is, until there was a loud thump. And there it was… watermelon on the floor cracked right down the middle.
Everyone turned around and saw what had happened. You could sense the various feelings among the adults: disappointment, frustration, surprise, and anger.
But before anyone could do or say anything, the four-year-old looked up and said,
''Well, I never saw that happening.''
(Daily Heartlight for 06/24/2015 by Steve Ridgell)
Now why did that little boy do what he did?
He did what he did because he WANTED that watermelon, and he wanted that watermelon NOW. He couldn't understand why the object of his affection should be denied him.
For that little boy that watermelon represented pleasure.
But when he attempted to take hold of the pleasure…everything fell apart.
And that's what Solomon is telling us about here in Ecclesiastes.
He's telling us that he sought to take hold of pleasure in his life. But when he did… everything fell apart.
''… What does pleasure accomplish?'' he asks. (Ecclesiastes 2:2)
''I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was mean ...
Series: There Ain't Nothing Better
Jeff Strite
Ecclesiastes 2:1-11
OPEN: It was a 4th of July weekend and the family had gathered for a big meal together. In the kitchen was little 4 year old Johnny… and there on the edge of the cabinet sat the one thing he loved so much. It was a big, round, sure to be juicy, watermelon.
He just couldn't stop staring at it.
But everyone told him to leave it alone. That Mom and Dad would cut it up later. It was explained that it would be too hard for him to lift it and that if he tried he would drop it and it might split open on the floor.
But sure that he understood the danger, everyone went on about their business.
That is, until there was a loud thump. And there it was… watermelon on the floor cracked right down the middle.
Everyone turned around and saw what had happened. You could sense the various feelings among the adults: disappointment, frustration, surprise, and anger.
But before anyone could do or say anything, the four-year-old looked up and said,
''Well, I never saw that happening.''
(Daily Heartlight for 06/24/2015 by Steve Ridgell)
Now why did that little boy do what he did?
He did what he did because he WANTED that watermelon, and he wanted that watermelon NOW. He couldn't understand why the object of his affection should be denied him.
For that little boy that watermelon represented pleasure.
But when he attempted to take hold of the pleasure…everything fell apart.
And that's what Solomon is telling us about here in Ecclesiastes.
He's telling us that he sought to take hold of pleasure in his life. But when he did… everything fell apart.
''… What does pleasure accomplish?'' he asks. (Ecclesiastes 2:2)
''I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was mean ...
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