Men Have Sought Out Many Schemes

Men Have Sought Out Many Schemes

The Preacher says here that this was the only thing he had found out! So this is the surest thing of all, as far as the natural man is concerned! For example, these many schemes consist of acting as if things are better with a person than it actually is; in other words, playing at being a hypocrite, or putting on a kind of show. The world is full of unpaid actors; however, people also pay some of them.

These schemes also consist of all kinds of fantasies, imaginations, explanations, and self-justifications. For example, one can say, “So nice of you to come,” whereas the truth is that one dislikes it quite a bit or even very much. Then they tend to put on an angel mask, acting as sweetly as possible, just like the children when they put on a mask at Christmas. All these schemes, all this acting, is the very opposite of uprightness and truth!

What is the intention with these schemes? It is to explain away the truth about oneself and one’s motives. This is done with words and by one’s conduct, with the dishonorable intention of always wanting to appear and sound and be better than one actually is. If the person continues like that, he is in a state in which he cannot be saved, for you cannot be saved from this lying without acknowledging it.

All progress on life’s way consists of coming closer to the absolute truth!

If people would only be fully assured that hypocrisy is one of the worst things God knows (Luke 12:1), they would be radically converted from this terrible and abominable nuisance!!!

Rightly understood, it is always this matter that is important: what is actually the truth in one’s own life?

This is the conclusion that Socrates (who lived several hundred years before Christ came into the world and before the advent of Christianity) came to, by God’s great grace. He was avidly interested in whether all kinds of things were absolutely true or not. This is precisely why he attained to so incredibly much. My beloved, truth-loving friends: Away with all remnants of all these ignoble, untrue schemes in daily life!!! Be radical in eradicating them!!!

Become a thoroughly wholehearted, true Christian! Away with all performances and all façades, or else you cannot reach the true goal!