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Bible Passage: Haggai 1:1-13

The prophet Haggai had a message for God’s people. After being freed from captivity, they were to go back to Israel and build a temple. They laid the foundation of the temple but that was it. Over a period of sixteen years, God’s people had built their nice houses but left the house of the Lord not even half built.

When they first came back from captivity, the Israelites were gung ho for the Lord. “Yeah, let’s get his house built,” they said. They worked full speed ahead when they were just released from captivity. Then after a while, the daily worries of life and concern for themselves overtook their enthusiasm for the Lord. They had laid the foundation of the Lord’s temple but then they became ho hum. They were gung ho then ho hum.

I think that is the way life is for many Christians. We are gung ho for the Lord after we’re baptized into Christ and we receive the Holy Spirit. We may stay gung ho for a year or two or three, maybe longer. Then the worries of life, and concern for ourselves, our comfort, and our desires seem to overtake that gung ho spirit we had at the beginning of our Christian walk. We then become ho hum Christians.

The book of Haggai is short, but within its pages, Haggai uses the term, “Consider your ways,” four times. Let us consider our ways as we progress through a new year. Let us consider where our priorities in life may be. May our priorities be on Jesus instead of ourselves. May our priorities be on living for others instead of ourselves. Jesus certainly lived for others. More importantly, he died for others. Then after three days he began living for others once more and he’s still living for others today. Let us follow the example of Jesus. It’s hard to do on some days (okay, make that most days) but it is well worth the effort.

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