The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/1_kings/10.htm

After a brief detour to review the Book of Proverbs and the Song of Solomon, we’re back to our study of the First Book of Kings. And since we’re on the subject of Solomon, Solomon is still the King of Israel.

Sheba (I did have to research this) is reportedly a country located in southern Arabia is what is now occupied by the country of Yemen. It was a very rich country with many spices that were desired as well as gold.

As scripture says, the Queen of Sheba came to visit Solomon to test his wisdom. The wisdom of Solomon was known all over, and she came to see if it was all true. And it was more than she expected.

At face value, you can read this as a story about how wise Solomon was, and is even a testimony of that wisdom by the Queen of Sheba, further reinforcement to the reader at just how wise Solomon really was. But remember, this is the Holy Bible, not the Book of Solomon. What is the real lesson here?

You should ask yourself, who gave Solomon that wisdom? Of course, it was God. And as we’ve reviewed, God has to be the ultimate in wisdom if He had it to share with Solomon. So isn’t this really about a testimony to the wisdom of God?

And if God is the ultimate in wisdom, wouldn’t it be in our best interest to heed what He says? Remember, we’ve read a lot of proverbs about the “son” accepting the wisdom of his “father”. Proverbs about how the son should listen to the father, heed his fathers instruction. And if he fails to do so, he brings shame on his father, it disheartens his father.

Should we not accept the wisdom of God, heed what He says? And if we do, we will be wise also. And if we don’t, it will bring shame on God, it will dishearten Him.

And that leads me to this. As Christians, are we representing God in the ways of wisdom? Are being being wise representatives of God? Are we acting in a manner that puts Christians in a good light, or are we acting in a manner that turns people away from God?

I just watched a short video yesterday on YouTube, and while the video didn’t say, I’m fairly sure it was a Sabbath keeping church because the speaker mentioned the Sabbath. He told a story about a young man, bright orange hair, full of tattoos, who stopped by and walked into a church. The church members looked at him as though he was definitely in the wrong place. “May we help you?”, they asked him. The speaker said the young man fell back on his Plan B, “Yes, can you direct me to the nearest Walmart?” He said the church members were very nice, took him outside and pointed, giving him directions to Walmart.

So the young man went down the road to the next church, a very small church with just a few cars in the parking lot. When he walked in, he was greeted by two elderly women. “Welcome!”, they said. “Come in and get some spiritual food, then after services, we’ll take you down to the basement and get you some real food!”

He said that when service were over, the church women actually tracked the young man down purposefully, to make sure he didn’t slip out. They took him to the basement where they were having a potluck dinner, and fed him well. As he was leaving, one of them said, now come back next week. We’re both baking pies and we need you to tell us which one is best”.

The next week, the young man took of the bright wig, scrubbed the fake tattoos, and dressed for church. He knew which church he was going to.

When he showed up, the women acted surprised. “What happened to your bright hair and tattoos?”, they asked. “Oh, they were just temporary”, he said.

They responded with, “We liked you better last week, but we’ll accept you just like you are. Come on in!”

Now this was actually a lesson in how God accepts us “just as we are”. We don’t have to be special or perfect or sinless for God to accept us. He’ll take us just as we are.

But it is also a lesson in how we represent God. Are we acting like good Christians, like people that others would want to be a part of. Or do we shun those we feel are lower class than us. Do we look at people and say, “Man, I can tell they’re not a Christian” when it is actually us that are not acting Christian like.

As far as the two elderly women who invited the tattooed man into their church, they were very wise. They were acting with the wisdom of God.