It
is easy to live a life of pretense in a fallen world. The problem with the
world is this – actors and actresses in Hollywood portrait life as if they are
real. But in real life, many go through life pretending they are something that
they are not. Authentic faith is more important than just merely leading a life
of pretense and make believe. Especially when we go to church. Ecclesiastes 5
starts by calling for truthful living, and total awe and reverence when we come
to worship God. Up till now, the preacher insisted that life is meaningless and
empty and all is vanity. Life is pessimistic and he was complaining much about
almost everything. However, as he progresses he seems to be giving sound
advises concerning work, death, time and possessions.
In
this chapter he gives solid counsel on how to conduct one’s life and
relationship with God in a practical way. Ecclesiastes 5:1-3 is so relevant to
church goers like us. These words are not meant for people who do not go to
church. His words are for people who go to church but lacking in commitment,
and failing to live a life of authenticity in their faith life. So, he began
with an admonition saying, “Guard your steps when
you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than
to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing
evil.” It’s a call to approach worship with
seriousness. He is calling for believers to pay attention to the instruction of
God and His word.
The
right way to approach God is to come with an open and receptive heart. We must
come with a right attitude and an ear poised and attentive to what God is going
to say. One needful exercise to engage in before coming to worship service is
to prepare our heart and attitude. We need to ensure that we have a heart that
is ready, attentive and receptive to God’s word. Bear in mind that we live in an
over communicated world. Many voices are clamouring for our attention. Many
come to church each Sunday bearing heavy burdens from the daily chores. If we
don’t learn to put them aside, our hearts and minds will be so cluttered that
we are rendered incapable to be attentive to God’s word. It is very easy to go
astray with our thoughts. The body may be present in church but the heart is
miles away. So, we go through the motion in worship without engaging our heart
and mind.
The
first thing then is to come to church with a heart and spirit awakened to love
and obey God. Be totally present – spirit, soul and body. Not to do so,
according to verse 1, is to come with the sacrifice of a fool. That is, not to
worship and engage God in spirit and truth, or in honesty and sincerity which
is hypocritical and sinful. Do not practice guile which is projecting a posture
of worship but devoid of one’s mind, heart and attention.
The
next thing we need to watch according to verse 2 is our words. It is important
to come before God with the attitude to listen, but equally important is to
come watching what we will say to him. It is on the arena of our prayer life.
Here we are told not to be “…rash with our mouth, nor let our
heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on
earth. Therefore, let our words be few.” People
do make hasty promises and then not keep their words. This is especially
critical when we speak them in the house of God. It is important that we pray
what we mean and mean what we pray. Do not say something for the sake of
impression but fail to keep our words to God. It is good to tuck it somewhere
in our heart that God hears every word we speak. He knows our conversation, so
we need to be careful what we pray and say to Him. The preacher’s advice is to
say few but truthful words to God, when we are in His presence.
In
verse 3, we are given why we should say few but truthful words to God. Businessmen
would dream much on how to be successful in business. They plan and go through
much activities to dream up plans to help them generate profit. There is no
complete fail-proof plan in business. More plans mean one is susceptible to
more risks. Words we speak are also like that. The more we say, the more
susceptible we are to create traps of our own making. Bear in mind that folly
and loquaciousness are often closely connected. In much words, we open up to
loopholes and mistakes. Remember work will lead us to make many dreams, but
foolishness will lead us to say far too many words. We must put a guard over
our mouth. When we talk to God be sincere and truthful. God has no delight in
our foolish words. Can you wonder why Jesus our Lord tells us to let our word
be yes and no? Anything else is putting ourselves at risk of saying the wrong
thing. It is needful to prepare one’s heart to come before God, and it is
equally important to watch what one says to Him in His presence. So, James in
his letter advices believers to be quick to listen but slow to speak. What a wise
counsel!
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