Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

For Reading and Meditation:     John 14:1-14

We make the claim once again - Christianity is unique. It is unique in the sense that it is the divinely appointed way to enter into a relationship with the one true and living God. There is only one way, only one Name, only one God, only one Lord, only one Mediator. Our claim that Christianity is unique comes not from...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 1:1-2

We begin now a study of what has been described as "the most dangerous book in the Bible" - Ecclesiastes. Why dangerous? Because in it one comes face to face with the utter futility of trying to find happiness and meaning in the things of time. And that discovery, for some people, could lead to opting out of life...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 1:3-7

Francis Schaeffer wrote that there are times "when a negative message is needed before anything positive can begin." That sums up the Book of Ecclesiastes. It seeks first to silence us with the utter futility of life before turning our gaze to the one and only reality - God. In the passage before us today the author...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 1:8-11

It is surprising how many Christians have never read the Book of Ecclesiastes. One woman told me that Ecclesiastes was the one book in the Bible she could not read. "I am put off by all that pessimism and gloom," she explained. There is, however, a purpose behind this pessimism and gloom. Dr. Cynddylan Jones, a...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 1:12-18

We said yesterday that one of the reasons why Solomon uses so many vivid illustrations is to break through our defensive attempts to avoid reality. It was T. S. Eliot who said that "humankind cannot bear very much reality." Psychologists warn that we should be careful about stripping away people's defenses, as...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 2:1-11

If education, intellectualism and philosophy are not the routes to making life work - then what is? Perhaps life can be found in pleasure. Not so, says Solomon. Pleasure pleases, but it is powerless to quench the ache that exists in the soul. We are provided with a list of the ways in which pleasure can be gained,...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 2:12-16

There are some who believe that the writer of Ecclesiastes had lost all objectivity when he wrote this book, and his pessimistic mood affected everything he looked at. As if anticipating that very argument, he says in verse 9: "In all this my wisdom stayed with me." Disillusioned though he was with the fact that...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 2:17-23

When we face the fact that there is nothing in this world - no person, place or thing - that can meet the deepest ache in our soul is probably one of the most solemn moments of our existence. Many can't face that kind of reality so they escape into such things as fantasies, endless rounds of activity, drink,...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 2:24-26

Oswald Chambers said: "No Christian makes much progress in the Christian life until he realizes that life is more chaotic and tragic than orderly." In other words, life in a fallen world can be tough! The sooner we face that fact and allow it to silence us, the fewer expectations we will have of the world, and...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 3:2-4a

Perhaps no better cross-section of life can be found anywhere than in these beautiful and poetic verses. Solomon unfolds for us the variety of life, all of which takes place under the providential hand of God. There are fourteen contrasts. (1) There is a time to be born and a time to die. No one can negotiate his or...

For Reading and Meditation: Ecclesiastes 3:1

Solomon turns his attention to the consideration of time. Who can define time? Longfellow asked, "What is time?", and then went on to say that although time could be measured, it could not be clearly defined. One of the best definitions of discipleship I have ever heard is: "Discipleship is what a person does with his time."

Imagine...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 3:4b-6a

We continue looking at Solomon's fourteen contrasts of life. (6) A time to mourn and a time to dance. We lose a loved one, and then, a year or so later, a family member gets married. Mourning is turned to dancing. Isn't this true of almost every family on earth? (7) A time to scatter stones and a time to gather...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 3:6b-8

We look now at the last of the list of Solomon's fourteen contrasts. (10) A time to keep and a time to throw (or give) away. Think at this moment of all the stuff you have that you will never use. Some things you will need to keep, of course, but some things ought to be given away. (11) A time to tear and a time to...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 3:9-11

Wouldn';t it be wonderful if we knew how to react properly to all of life's events? To do the right thing at the wrong time is almost as bad as not doing right. "What time is it?" we often ask. In regard to life's events, how often we wish we knew! Solomon follows up his poetic...