All That Matters Is...

When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is: fear God and keep His commands, because this is for all humanity.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 HCSB

This verse epitomizes the summary of the chapter. In the whole chapter Solomon, poetically, illustrates the end for us all. I am watching my mother age. She is 85 and becoming frailer and struggling to remember certain things. I am getting older. In my youth the world was my oyster. I was going to do so much. Yet as I walked through life and became a friend of God I have learned that His will is more important than mine.

What will it benefit us if we have done all that was in our heart to do, if we have experienced all pleasure but failed to honour God? We will stand before Him empty and painfully aware that we did not choose Him and for all eternity will live without Him.

The meeting with God will be the refiner of all thought, all effort, all achievement. Have I done what He wanted me to do? Did I apply myself to learn the lessons He had for me? Did I tell others about His Son? When He opens the book on my life will I hear: "Well done!" Or see sadness in His eyes?

Respecting God, honouring His Son and living for Him are all that matters. He wants a loving relationship with us. This requires an intentional reciprocity. He is waiting! Amen!