Don't Overthink It
Made for More: Part 3
Ecclesiastes 11-12
August 30, 2026
Remember your creator in your prime, before the days of trouble arrive, and those years, about which you’ll say, “I take no pleasure in these”...
... So this is the end of the matter; all has been heard. Worship God and keep God’s commandments because this is what everyone must do.
~ Ecclesiastes 12:1, 13
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As we wrap up our series on meaning and purpose, the writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us that it is far simpler than we tend to make it. “Worship God and keep God’s commandments because this is what everyone must do.”
Another way to put it might be: “Love God, Love Neighbor.”
Or even more simply: “Love, and do what you will.”
Listen to the full sermon above and take some time to slowly meditate on the two short readings below, asking the question, “What is one next step God is inviting me to take right now?”
Pause. Listen. Respond.
Do It Anyway
By Dr. Ken M. Keith, written on the wall at Mother Teresa’s Home for Children in Calcutta
People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you.
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight.
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough.
Give the best you’ve got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis it is between you and God;
it was never between you and them anyway.
Love and Do What You Will
Saint Augustine of Hippo
If you keep silent, keep silent by love:
if you speak, speak by love;
if you correct, correct by love;
if you pardon, pardon by love;
let love be rooted in you,
and from the root nothing but good can grow.
Love and do what you will.
Practice: Do It Anyway
Choose one small act of love this week that has no guarantee of fixing anything. Done not because it will resolve the darkness, but because it’s what faithfulness looks like inside it.