2 Cor 4 · Eccl 4

Devotion 1 of 2: 2 Cor 4

1) It means to use the Bible and say something that seems spiritual and true, but is not really from God. The purpose is usually to attract people and to get a bigger offering.
Example: A pastor preached that if people came to his conference, they would all see Jesus like he sees Jesus. So many people attended, and some said they saw Jesus, but also some said they didn’t see Jesus. I think this shows that people can be deceived. The reason I know they were deceived is because that pastor has had many immoral relationships with many women. His wife endured his immorality for a long time, but finally left him. I know Jesus doesn’t appear to a man like that nor appear at his meetings. He is an example of preaching the Word of God to deceive people.

2) When we go through trials, if we persevere without complaining, our inner man is changed from impatient to patient, from angry to loving, from critical to forgiving, and we become more like Jesus. When we get to heaven, we’ll have many rewards and enter a much higher level of eternal life than if we were an immature believer.　
Example: Corrie Ten Boom suffered horribly at the Nazi concentration camp she was sent to. Her father, mother and sister all died from the terrible ordeal. But God dealt with her heart, took out the anger and hatred toward Germany, and transformed her into a spokeswoman for forgiving the German people. Many thousands were delivered from hate and even got saved through her inspiring messages.

Devotion 2 of 2: Eccl 4

V.4 says, “…for all toil and every skillful work a man is envied by his neighbor. This also is vanity and grasping for wind.” At first I couldn’t understand this verse. I thought this is what everyone is doing—trying to do a skillful job that others will envy! This includes sports athletes, business executives, doctors, scientists, teachers, company workers, musicians, etc. So why is it vanity? I think the answer is in v.6, “Better a handful with quietness than both hands full, together with toil and grasping for the wind.” “A handful with quietness” means working with one hand and having quietness, peace, happiness, etc. in the other hand. That is better than working with both hands, or always competing, striving, driving yourself to do more, without having inner peace. This will lead to emptiness and a broken life.