- Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city. Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. -
Recognize the last verse? I’ll give you a hint. One of the apostle’s says something similar to this in one of his letters.
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” Romans 3:23.
Right, Paul’s famous passage on everyone being a sinner can be found in Ecclesiastes! I always love seeing Old Testament and New Testament patterns match.
Let’s start with the last part. We know we all sin. Why? Because it’s as easy as breathing.
We want all the stuff we want, and we want it now. We know we think that thought, even if it only sits barely above our subconscious and appears only for a few seconds at a time.
We know even to think this thought is to disgrace our God, whom we owe everything to, even our trials and tribulations.
Remember when we discussed the word sin? It’s an archery term which means to miss the mark, meaning not doing it perfectly.
What does that mean? It’s not only thinking the selfish thoughts; it’s not thinking the best thoughts all the time no matter how difficult your life is!
That’s all sin. When the Bible says that everyone sins, it means it. Failure is simply unavoidable.
Tied up in this idea is the emphasis on doing good. Now, they are clearly linked; sin, in some sense, is not doing good.
Why the need for both statements?
Well, for one, saying it both ways makes it explicit the standard God holds us to. “You don’t do things right and you do things wrong.”
Focusing on the good allows us to consider the good. Perhaps, we pose a question like this, “What is good? What does it mean to hit the mark?”
If sin is missing the bullseye, how can we strike it?
We could say it’s to live a life like the Scriptures inspire. It’s to imitate Jesus in the best way you possibly can. It’s to be guided by the Spirit.
All of that is pretty abstract, meaning there is an active element of living our lives that is required for the good to reveal itself to us.
What does that mean? It is unknown to us. In fact, if God’s full goodness were made manifest to us, it would cause us to die.
“For man shall not see me and live.” Exodus 33:20.
What does this mean? The good is abstract and we can only witness a part of it here in our lives today.
This all goes to make Solomon and Paul’s point more explicit. None are righteous. None are good. All fall short of God’s glory.
What hope then is there for us? If we are filled with the inclination and desire for sin and goodness will literally kill us if we observe it, how might we ever live a kingdom life?
The answer?
Be reborn. Become a new creature. Die to yourself. Carry your cross. Be transformed.
It’s when you decide to have faith in God, Jesus, Spirit, Logos, The Good, that you can finally die.
But oh death, where is your sting?
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