Focus On God’s House, Not Yours

By Joe Slater       Good stewards take care of whatever has been entrusted to them. If God has entrusted you with home ownership, you certainly ought to maintain that home sensibly and reasonably. But what about God’s house? (No, not the physical structure in which we assemble, but the Lord’s church!)     Unlike today when God’s house is a spiritual edifice, the prophet Haggai wrote during the Mosaic age when God’s house was a physical temple in Jerusalem. Haggai’s people had begun to rebuild the temple shortly after their return from captivity, but political and religious enemies had conned the Persian king into forcing them to halt construction. Through the years they had become content to leave the project on the back burner.     Meanwhile the people built their own fine homes and went about their business as usual. Through His prophet the Lord asked them, “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?” (Haggai 1:4).     The problem wasn’t that the Jews’ homes were too ornate. It was that their zeal for God’s house had cooled to the point of total disinterest. “This people says, ‘The time has not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built’” (1:2).     How often do we use similar excuses to justify our neglect of God’s work while we focus on ourselves? “It just isn’t a good time!” (Really? When will the time be right?)     God has entrusted us with the spread of Christ’s gospel and the building up of the church. Are we being good stewards?   [Seed thought via Joseph Lewis (Flower Mound)]

- Joe Slater serves as minister of the Church of Christ in Justin, TX. He may be contacted through the congregation's website: http://justinchurchofchrist.com