By Jeremy Spouse
After 70 years of captivity, God
graciously allowed the Israelites to return to Jerusalem to
rebuild the Temple. In Ezra 3:10, the work began with great
joy. Soon afterwards however, the Israelites let adversaries
stop the work, and the Temple of God remained barren and
desolate. The message God sent through Haggai was: “Consider
your ways!” (Haggai 1:5).
They were saying the time wasn’t
right to build God’s house (Haggai 1:2), but they were
building their houses. They were not just building bare
bones shelter either; they were building paneled houses -
elaborate, decorated houses (Haggai 1:4). They were willing
to put in the effort for themselves, but not for God. They
needed to consider their ways.
Are we like the Israelites? Where are our
priorities? Are we spending more time on our houses, lawns,
and/or cars than we spend on God’s work? Jesus made it known
upfront we cannot be His disciples unless we make Him first
in our lives (Luke14:25-35). Often we are baptized with
great rejoicing and are on fire for God. Soon, however, the
worries of life and the desire for our comfort cause that
fire to dwindle to nothingness.
It is important we are not just
good starters, but good finishers. We need to consider our
ways.
- via the weekly bulletin of the Harrisburg Church of Christ
in Harrisburg, IL. You may visit their website at
http://www.harrisburgchurchofchrist.org
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