Haggai one a minor prophet--- what priority do you
give to the things of God?
Priorities help us say yes & no to things that matter
& don’t matter. Far more, having a consuming priority redefines how we say
yes & how we live to make that yes reality.
“You have planted much, but 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.””
Haggai 1:6 NIV
Read
Text: "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:v9
2.
Isn’t is funny how we always have reasons why we cannot serve God, but we
always find the time and the money to serve ourselves?
3.
Someone put it this way:
•
Isn’t it strange how a 20 dollar note seems like such a large amount when you
donate it to church, but such a small amount when you go shopping?
•
Isn’t it strange how 2 hours seem so long when you’re at church, and how short
they seem when you’re watching a good Netflix movie?
•
Isn’t it strange that you can’t find a word to say when you’re praying, but you
have no trouble thinking what to gossip about with a friend?
• Isn’t it strange how everyone wants front-row-tickets to
concerts or games, but they do whatever is possible to sit at the back row in
Church?
•
Isn’t it strange how we need to know about a church event three weeks in
advance so we can include it in our agenda, but we can adjust it for other
events in the last minute?
•
Isn’t it strange how difficult it is to learn and share a truth about God with
others, but how easy it is to learn, understand, extend and repeat gossip?
•
Isn’t it strange how we believe everything that magazines and newspapers say,
but we question the words in the Bible?
The
truth is our “reasons for not praying, reading the bible and practicing
hospitality” aren’t reasons at all – they are excuses
These
Jewish people of Haggai’s time said, “The time is not come”
But
they seemed to have plenty of time to work on their own houses.
God
points at the lovely wooden panels on their homes, and he asks “How it is your
house seems to be in fine order, but mine is disappearing under a carpet of
weeds?” “How come you have time to build your house, but no time to build
mine?”
In
fact when the Lord tells them to build his house notice (vs 8) that they are to
“Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house.”
Go up into the mountains and bring down timber
and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored," says
the LORD. Haggai 1:8
