Setting our priorities aright
In the days of King Darius, the prophet Haggai received a word from God in regards the the peoples’ lack of desire to repair and care for the house of God. Their attitude was, “The time is not yet come for building the house of the Lord.” But God said in reply, Is it time for you to live in nice homes while my House lies desolate?
Since they were all about themselves and nothing else, everything they attempted to do for themselves came up short. That is why they planted much and gleaned little, and suffered from hunger and thirst.
That is why they were insufficiently clothed and suffered from the cold, and why their earnings were “put into bags with holes”, or as we as would say, “right down the toilet.”
Because they did not care for God’s house, whatever they strived to earn for themselves became less, and whatever they tried to hoard, God “blew it away”.
Because God’s house remained desolate and “every man made haste to [take care of his own stuff], the heavens and earth stopped yielding her fruits.”
Their priorities were mixed up. They worked and worked to fill their own barns and suddenly, their number came up and everything they worked for never materialized and what did, ended up going to another who did not work for it.
We can take this piece of history and apply it to our own lives. If we see our hard earned money going up in smoke and if we can’t seem to keep the dike of life from crumbling around us, what are we doing wrong?
Are we putting ourselves and all our wants ahead of God’s? Are our priorities backwards? Probably.
God wants our attention and He will do what is necessary to get it for our own good. So, when the bills are mounting, and our “progress” is one step forward, five steps back, we have to evaluate our lives for clues as to the reasons why.
Are we hoarding or cheating others of our goods? Are we treating our brothers and sisters in the Lord with contempt or gossiping and spreading rumors about them? Are we focused on putting on that new deck instead of tithing money to help others who suffer want?
These things may seem like small matters to us, but not to our Lord. If we want have peace in our hearts and homes, we need to “Set our hearts upon our ways, and go up to the mountain, bring timber, and build the house: and it shall be acceptable to me, and I shall be glorified, says the Lord.” Haggai 1: 10
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Rest with Jesus
This evening I was walking towards my house, dodging rain drops and watching the gray clouds skim by. A thin, wispy ribbon of a rainbow was off to the north. In just a few moments the other end of the rainbow appeared in the south and pretty soon the whole rainbow glowed in front of my eyes.
I felt like I was standing before the gates of heaven. The gloomy clouds continued to move along but the rainbow stood brilliant through them all. It was like an arch of a great doorway beckoning me to look through it.
Eventually it started to fade, but the clouds soon turned from gray to pink and the sky chorused with blue. This beautiful display of God’s nature spoke to my heart in a most profound way.
Sisters and brothers, the Lord will never leave us. He is always with us no matter how dark and stirred up the sky is. It doesn’t matter if we don’t see his rainbow and only see the clouds, it is still there encircling us with God’s love.
Unlike the apostle Peter, always fix your eyes on Him and pay no attention to the storms that threaten your peace. But if your eyes do look at the trouble around you, all you need do is cry to him and he will lift you out of the stormy sea and into the boat.
When hard times press in, my husband often will imagine himself in the boat with Jesus. There he rests and there Jesus brings the boat to shore.
This evening I was walking towards my house, dodging rain drops and watching the gray clouds skim by. A thin, wispy ribbon of a rainbow was off to the north. In just a few moments the other end of the rainbow appeared in the south and pretty soon the whole rainbow glowed in front of my eyes.
I felt like I was standing before the gates of heaven. The gloomy clouds continued to move along but the rainbow stood brilliant through them all. It was like an arch of a great doorway beckoning me to look through it.
Eventually it started to fade, but the clouds soon turned from gray to pink and the sky chorused with blue. This beautiful display of God’s nature spoke to my heart in a most profound way.
Sisters and brothers, the Lord will never leave us. He is always with us no matter how dark and stirred up the sky is. It doesn’t matter if we don’t see his rainbow and only see the clouds, it is still there encircling us with God’s love.
Unlike the apostle Peter, always fix your eyes on Him and pay no attention to the storms that threaten your peace. But if your eyes do look at the trouble around you, all you need do is cry to him and he will lift you out of the stormy sea and into the boat.
When hard times press in, my husband often will imagine himself in the boat with Jesus. There he rests and there Jesus brings the boat to shore.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Don’t waste time
What do you do when you are hurting? How do you spend your hours while going through your darkest days? Do you physically and mentally curl up into a fetal position and block everything out until it’s over, or do you lash out at all around you until you find some outside relief?
If we have chosen to follow Jesus, we know that our commitment is to pick up our crosses and follow him. This is not an option but what we must do, because a cross is assigned for all to carry whether we like it or not. But if we lie like slugs and whimper underneath the weight of it, we will never be able to please our Lord. He carried his cross and so should we.
Jesus knows how hard it is to accomplish this task. He knows the pain of being abandoned by friends and family, and he knows that it is the enemy of our souls who is behind every attack.
When we experience tribulation, we too need to be aware who the real enemy is. It is not so much the people who betray us or do their best to harm us, it is the devil who is working through them.
They may be unaware that their hateful energy is supplied by him. They may think they are God’s defenders, as Saul thought as he terrorized and killed his contemporaries who chose to follow Jesus. Or they may think they are divinely designated whistle blowers of other Christians in order to “clean house” in one church or another. If the fruit of whatever action someone takes against another is bitter and causes division, then you can bet the action was not of God.
Have you ever thought that maybe you are experiencing a difficult time because you may be a conduit of the enemy to hurt someone else? That thought has crossed my mind more than once. None of us are exempt from being tempted to work for the other side, and we had better be aware of that possibility.
In the mean time, instead of wasting our lives doing nothing with our suffering, we need to get up off the pity pot, as my husband’s mother used to say, and work. Write a song, visit a homebound person, volunteer time at a crisis center, or listen to someone else who needs an ear.
Because, “He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 1 Cor. 1: 4
What do you do when you are hurting? How do you spend your hours while going through your darkest days? Do you physically and mentally curl up into a fetal position and block everything out until it’s over, or do you lash out at all around you until you find some outside relief?
If we have chosen to follow Jesus, we know that our commitment is to pick up our crosses and follow him. This is not an option but what we must do, because a cross is assigned for all to carry whether we like it or not. But if we lie like slugs and whimper underneath the weight of it, we will never be able to please our Lord. He carried his cross and so should we.
Jesus knows how hard it is to accomplish this task. He knows the pain of being abandoned by friends and family, and he knows that it is the enemy of our souls who is behind every attack.
When we experience tribulation, we too need to be aware who the real enemy is. It is not so much the people who betray us or do their best to harm us, it is the devil who is working through them.
They may be unaware that their hateful energy is supplied by him. They may think they are God’s defenders, as Saul thought as he terrorized and killed his contemporaries who chose to follow Jesus. Or they may think they are divinely designated whistle blowers of other Christians in order to “clean house” in one church or another. If the fruit of whatever action someone takes against another is bitter and causes division, then you can bet the action was not of God.
Have you ever thought that maybe you are experiencing a difficult time because you may be a conduit of the enemy to hurt someone else? That thought has crossed my mind more than once. None of us are exempt from being tempted to work for the other side, and we had better be aware of that possibility.
In the mean time, instead of wasting our lives doing nothing with our suffering, we need to get up off the pity pot, as my husband’s mother used to say, and work. Write a song, visit a homebound person, volunteer time at a crisis center, or listen to someone else who needs an ear.
Because, “He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 1 Cor. 1: 4
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