February 18
Ecclesiastes 2 & Romans 7
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Ecclesiastes 2

Chapter 2

2:1I said to myself, "Go ahead, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy what is good." But it turned out to be futile. 2I said about laughter, "It is madness," and about pleasure, "What does this accomplish?" 3I explored with my mind how to let my body enjoy life with wine and how to grasp folly-my mind still guiding me with wisdom-until I could see what is good for people to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.
4I increased my achievements. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. 5I made gardens and parks for myself and planted every kind of fruit tree in them. 6I constructed reservoirs of water for myself from which to irrigate a grove of flourishing trees. 7I acquired male and female servants and had slaves who were born in my house. I also owned many herds of cattle and flocks, more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. 8I also amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I gathered male and female singers for myself, and many concubines, the delights of men. 9So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; my wisdom also remained with me. 10All that my eyes desired, I did not deny them. I did not refuse myself any pleasure, for I took pleasure in all my struggles. This was my reward for all my struggles. 11When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun.
12Then I turned to consider wisdom, madness, and folly, for what will the man be like who comes after the king? He will do what has already been done. 13And I realized that there is an advantage to wisdom over folly, like the advantage of light over darkness.
14The wise man has eyes in his head,
but the fool walks in darkness.
Yet I also knew that one fate comes to them both. 15So I said to myself, "What happens to the fool will also happen to me. Why then have I been overly wise?" And I said to myself that this is also futile. 16For, just like the fool, there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man, since in the days to come both will be forgotten. How is it that the wise man dies just like the fool? 17Therefore, I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
18I hated all my work that I labored at under the sun because I must leave it to the man who comes after me. 19And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will take over all my work that I labored at skillfully under the sun. This too is futile. 20So I began to give myself over to despair concerning all my work that I had labored at under the sun. 21When there is a man whose work was done with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and he must give his portion to a man who has not worked for it, this too is futile and a great wrong. 22For what does a man get with all his work and all his efforts that he labors at under the sun? 23For all his days are filled with grief, and his occupation is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile.
24There is nothing better for man than to eat, drink, and enjoy his work. I have seen that even this is from God's hand, 25because who can eat and who can enjoy life apart from Him? 26For to the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy, but to the sinner He gives the task of gathering and accumulating in order to give to the one who is pleasing in God's sight. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

Romans 7

Chapter 7

7:1Since I am speaking to those who understand law, brothers, are you unaware that the law has authority over someone as long as he lives? 2For example, a married woman is legally bound to her husband while he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law regarding the husband. 3So then, if she gives herself to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then, if she gives herself to another man, she is not an adulteress.
4Therefore, my brothers, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the crucified body of the Messiah, so that you may belong to another-to Him who was raised from the dead-that we may bear fruit for God. 5For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions operated through the law in every part of us and bore fruit for death. 6But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law.
7What should we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin if it were not for the law. For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet. 8And sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law sin is dead. 9Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life 10and I died. The commandment that was meant for life resulted in death for me. 11For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me. 12So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.
13Therefore, did what is good cause my death? Absolutely not! On the contrary, sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment, sin might become sinful beyond measure. 14For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am made out of flesh, sold into sin's power. 15For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. 18For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. 19For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. 20Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me. 21So I discover this principle: When I want to do what is good, evil is with me. 22For in my inner self I joyfully agree with God's law. 23But I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this dying body? 25I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh, to the law of sin.

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