Ecclesiastes 12.13 summarizes the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty.
Biblically speaking the wisest person to ever live was king Solomon. He was made wise by God in response to his request of God for ruling over the people of God.
The book of Ecclesiastes is king Solomon’s observations from a long life guided by wisdom. His conclusion is the summary verse for today: fear God and obey His commands.
Since the rebellion of humanity against the will of God the whole world, including humanity, experiences the dreadful reality of death, decay and decadence. The perfect world God created was removed from us by our rebellious desire to live life as god; we make the choices, we decide the rules, we determine our own destiny.
Of course, we are not god, we are small, powerless people incapable of fighting a common cold very well and certainly we have no cure for death. Our birth and subsequent upbringing with or without instruction about the One True God does not make us unaccountable to God for knowing Him and reconciling ourselves to Him before we face Him at the judgement which happens after we leave this earth.
Our life here is our opportunity to make peace with God otherwise we are doomed to face Him directly, without an Advocate Who will take our case, plead our defense and gain our pardon. Jesus is the Advocate God has sent to reconcile us to God. Jesus came as a man so we could understand God.
Jesus, God, is good, gentle, humble and loving but He is God. Jesus as God will judge all humanity. He does promise to punish eternally in horrific torment all those who refuse His generous offer of reconciliation while they lived on earth.
He also promises to reward eternally with life on a new earth all those who have humbled themselves before Him by seeking His forgiveness and receiving His Spirit so that we can begin to live lives pleasing to God now.
It seems so simple really. If there really is a God then we shall one day meet Him. If there really is a God then He shall one day judge us. That should cause us to pause and consider.
The One True God is a God of love Who commands us to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves. This begins with loving Jesus and turning to Him as God and Savior.
This is the work we must do now in order to live forever later. Not complicated, not hard really other than for every proud fiber in our being resisting anyone being our Lord. Even the God Who made us, loves us and will ultimately judge us.
