Friday Thought -- March 21, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘These people say, “The time has not yet come for the LORD’s house to be built.”’ Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: ‘Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?’ Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.’  --- ‘You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?’ declares the LORD Almighty. ‘Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house.’” (Haggai 1:2-6, 9)

The message of the prophet Haggai is about priorities. The people of Judah had been allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their land. That was a marvelous blessing from the Lord. When they arrived there were many things that needed to be done in the city that had been destroyed by the Babylonians.

They busied themselves with building new houses for themselves and getting life back into order. They had to reestablish their businesses, get their fields back into shape to produce crops and restore all of the things that are necessary for ordinary life.

All the things they did were good things that needed to be done.

But while doing all of those good things, they neglected rebuilding God’s temple. They reasoned that there were more needful things to which to give their attention. They decided they would build the temple later. But they kept delaying the temple, finding other things to give attention to first.

Finally, God showed them there was something wrong with their priorities. They worked hard at farming, but the crops they produced weren’t as good as they should have been. They never seemed to be able to find satisfaction in how their lives were going. Their money never seemed to go as far as it should. All those things were God’s discipline because their priorities were wrong.

Misplaced priorities are a common pattern of life. We put off the Lord because there are so many other things about life that clamor for our attention. We say, “We’ll give attention to the Lord later.” But always new things arise that take our attention and we keep putting off the Lord.

How are your priorities?

His, by Grace,

Steve