Hello and welcome back to the One Thing podcast. What does it mean to be wise? Now, wisdom can mean a lot of different things - and a lot of good things. But, one thing I would like to share with you today is something dear to my own heart, and it's a Word that I want to share from Ecclesiastes; but before I get there, I want to talk about foolishness. What does the Bible consider to be foolishness before the eyes of God? What does it mean to be a foolish person? One thing that I've realized in this Scripture is that the most foolish thing that we can do, or the most foolish way that we can live our lives, is to not realize that one day our lives will end. What do I mean by that?

"...there will be a day that we close our eyes to never wake up again to now meet our Maker..."

Today, when we think about the youth or we think about many adults even, and the message that is portrayed through media or just through many people who are teaching their ideas, you know ‘live how you want to live today - do what you want to do,’ and many say, ‘you know what, forget about God, you can get into God later, but you are younger - you need to live your life, you need to do what you need to do, and tomorrow we got to make the best of the day.’ And why is this foolishness? Because the reality is the Bible makes very clear that we are not promised tomorrow. We are not even promised tonight; I'm not even promised the very next hour. You see, in a moment, in the blink of an eye, we can be taken in a car accident or a disease or whatever it may be - there's a million different ways - but bottom line, our lives are fragile; bottom line, there will be a day that we close our eyes to never wake up again to now meet our Maker and to then be accountable for the way that we have chosen to live our lives.

Why is it foolish not to realize this? Why is it foolish not to think about it? Because we can go on, we can decide to go our own way and to do our own thing - but it will end one day. See, the Bible says that the rich and the poor have one thing in common: that one day we will lie on our deathbed. Now is this something that should stir us up just to be full of fear? No, but it is something to truly think about, because it's as though we're all thinking we're gonna live forever, we could just do what we want - but the reality is there's a day of reckoning for every man and for every woman.

"...let me love my family as God has called me to love..."

So today as I'm speaking about wisdom, we understand what foolishness is, but now let's talk about the wisdom of the Word in Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 4. It says (and I'm reading from the NLT), “a wise person thinks a lot about death, while a fool thinks only about having a good time.” Now, what is wisdom? It's saying that a wise person thinks a lot about death. Now is it saying that we're obsessed with death? Is it saying that you know that's all that we think about? No, what it is saying is that those who are wise realize that they're not going to be here forever - that those who are wise, those who are in Christ, those who are following Him realize that at any moment He can call us home; any moment He can require of us our lives - and what are we doing with what we have? Are we assuming that we're going to have tomorrow to say “I love you” to our children again? Are we assuming that tonight we're going to get home and all is well and we're gonna have another chance to maybe seek God? We cannot assume these things, but the way that God is calling us to live is that this moment may be our last moment - so you know what? Let me seek the Lord with all of my heart. This may be my last day; let me love my family as God has called me to love; let me love my brothers and my sisters; let me not be caught in temptations and in the things that this world draws us away with.

”But this is the only true wisdom... if we follow the Lord; if we seek Him with all of our heart; if we look to walk with Him continually... we will be found in the house of the Lord...”

See, God can call us home at any moment - when He calls you home, where will you be? What would you be doing? Where will your heart be? Will it be with the Lord Jesus Christ, or will it be with the world? You see, God is going to call us home one day, and He will also hold us accountable for the way that we have lived our lives and for what we have done with everything that He has given us. But this is true wisdom, because we know that if we follow the Lord; that if we seek Him with all of our heart; that if we look to walk with Him continually, that we will be found in the house of the Lord, that any moment He can call us back, and we're already going to be with Him because we're walking in His presence today. We’re already going to be ready knowing that God has prepared our hearts to be with Him.

Only a fool thinks about having a good time all the time. You see, the world is just constantly thinking about ‘how am I gonna please myself? How am I gonna have a good time? I just want to have the money, I just want to do my thing.’ But listen: you can have a million dollars, and if your life is required this hour, the million dollars means nothing. But if you have Christ, even if this be the hour that you close your eyes, you will also open them to the Redeemer; that's right, for I know that my Redeemer lives - those who walk in Christ, those who are with Him - even on your deathbed, there is victory. For those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, His promise is that we too shall live forever.

”...today we do not have to continue in foolishness of the world, but we can walk and be in the house of the wise...”

I thank God today for the wisdom that He speaks in His Word, and I thank God that today we do not have to continue in foolishness of the world, but we can walk and be in the house of the wise, thinking about the fact that one day we will die - any moment we could go - but in that we do not falter, we do not have sorrow; but we rejoice knowing that we can find life in the Lord Jesus Christ; that we can be ready even this day, even this hour as we walk and we follow Him. A wise person thinks a lot about death, while only a fool thinks about having a good time. I pray for each one of you listening this day that the wisdom of the Spirit of God would enter your heart, would enter your mind; that you would awaken, awaken and truly see what matters in this life. All that matters is God - doing His will and being in Christ. So I pray today that God will bless you, and that this Word would go deep, and that all of us will come into the true wisdom of God.