A challenge from the Book of Haggai

“Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in paneled houses while this house remains a ruin?” This is the word that popped up to me this morning as I sat down and felt I needed to share it here.

Haggai is a wonderful book that reminds us of the right priorities in life, it is only a couple of pages long so take the time to read it in one sitting.

I quote from the NIV application study bible;

“Pressures, demands, expectations, and tasks push in from all sides and assault our schedules. Do! Be There! Finish that! Call them! It seems as though everyone wants something from us – family, friends, employer, school, church, clubs. Soon there is little left to give, as we run out of energy and time. We find ourselves rushing through life, attending to the necessary, the immediate, and the urgent. The important is all too often left in the dust. Our problem is not the volume of demands or lack of scheduling skills, but values – what is truly important to us.

Our values and priorities are reflected in how we use our resources – time, money, strength, and talent. Often our actions belie our words. We say God is number one, but then we relegate him to a lesser number on our “to do” lists.

Twenty-five centuries ago, a voice was heard, calling men and women to the right priorities. Haggai knew what was important and what had to be done, and he challenged God’s people to respond.” … Although Haggai is a small book, it is filled with challenge and promise, reminding us of God’s claim on our lives and our priorities.

The people had started to rebuild the temple but then got distracted and busy and the Lords temple got left behind. Haggai brought the call to start again on what was important and that was to build the Lords house. But in so doing there was great encouragement of what the Lord would do.

2:6 “This is what the Lord Almighty says; “In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord Almighty. The silver is mine and the gold is mind. Declares the Lord Almighty. The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house, says the Lord Almighty. And in this place I will grant peace, declares the Lord Almighty.”

This is what we look forward to as we build the house of the Lord, His glory and His peace which for me, far outweighs the place in which we often live in that natural when we seek after the temporal things. So I want to encourage you this morning to see where you are spending your time and resources and perhaps lay aside some of those things which seem important but in reality are just distracting us from the truth and of what we can have in Christ, which is way more than we can ever hope to imagine.

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