Better (W3D4) Can't Take It With You
Thursday: Can't Take It With You
PRAY: Ask God to speak to you from His Word.
READ: Ecclesiastes 5:13-17
13 I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owners, 14 or wealth lost through some misfortune, so that when they have children there is nothing left for them to inherit. 15 Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands. 16 This too is a grievous evil: As everyone comes, so they depart, and what do they gain, since they toil for the wind? 17 All their days they eat in darkness, with great frustration, affliction and anger.
UNDERSTAND: get a deeper understanding of the key words
Begin by underlining nouns with a single line, double underline verbs, and circle descriptive words.
Make a list of the key words/phrases and think about what they mean.
Snapshot: In this passage Solomon tells us that hoarding wealth and/or possessions is harmful. He actually calls it a “grievous evil.” When you live for greed and selfish ambition, you end up harming yourself and those around you. Paul wrote “Do nothing out of selfish ambition…” (Phil. 2:3). Solomon’s point is that hoarding wealth is meaningless because you can’t take it beyond this life. Why spend your life trying to hoard something you can’t keep?
Takeaway: Wealth may be used to live life, but it is not life itself.
APPLY: What is this passage calling me to do?
What are some ways we harm ourselves and those important to us to gain wealth?
Have you ever been guilty of selfish ambition? What was the outcome?
Why is it important to know that we can’t take anything with us when we die?
PRAY: Ask God to help you live for something beyond this life.
