Finishing Up and the six month challenge

Finishing teaching through Ecclesiastes has been fun! (at least for me) It is a book that has a definite flavor of desperation and maybe to some degree hopelessness. I mean here’s Solomon, a guy that had it all, lived it all, and accomplished it all. And then taking that”all” and putting a huge rubber stamp on it: “Meaningless” (meaningless echo)

We started pushing near the end of this series, the standard Sunday School answer that you guys knew was coming, so let again just throw this out there, “Jesus is the Answer.” I can hear the groans and the, “Duh Dennis!” coming from the peanut gallery now. (check out Toby’s teaching, “Happy without Answers” again for this to be fleshed out)

So what are you doing to make Jesus your answer? Do this:

• Get into a quiet time habit!! Carve out at least three days a week.
• Grab your Bible and a journal during your quiet time.
• Give God at least 15 minutes of uninterrupted time, reading your Bible and praying.
• During your quiet time read through about a chapter a week. There really isn’t any hurry!
• Do this consistently for 6 months and see what happens.

The tendency is to start strong and be good to go with your devotional time for about two weeks, then get discouraged because you don’t feel like you’re getting anything out of it, let other things start to take priority, and then let a week go by without cracking open your Bible. GIVE IT SIX MONTHS AND MAKE YOUR QUIET TIME A PRIORITY.

If Jesus really is the answer to meaninglessness and the only purpose to life, then this could be the best six months you’ve ever invested!