Consider your ways

Haggai 1:5

Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.

The same injunction given to the children of Israel in the days of Haggai is the same injunction that everyone of us should heed. God told the children of Israel, His people, that they should consider their ways. They should consider their doings and their way of life. They were dwelling in their ceiled houses, while the house of the Lord was laid waste, and none seemed to regard it. They were comfortable; they were happy; they had all things made; they were living back in the promised land that God had promised them so many centuries ago, and He had delivered them from bondage and captivity in Babylon. But now! They are in the land of promise but have ignored and neglected the house of the Lord of hosts who had brought back to their land. This is, my friends, a lesson about priorities.

Priorities! Where are your priorities? Is it an evil thing to have a ceiled house? Is it an evil thing to have a comfortable home and to enjoy the fruit of the land and the possessions that you have been endowed by the Lord? No, none of these things are evil. In fact, they are all great and wonderful. But when this is enjoyed to the neglect of the things of God and that which pleases Him, then our priorities our off base. They are not correctly placed. They are improperly ordered. For you see, who is the one that has given you every single blessing that you so richly enjoy from day to day? Who is it that by His marvelous and loving hand has bestowed upon you the blessings of the home and of the field, and of the bank account also? All these things come from God. That is why our Lord said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Seek ye first! The other is not evil! But it is not first. It is, at best, second. It is a bi-product. It is a result of the other. It is, in fact, meaningless without the other. So, my dear brother, be not overly enthralled and enamored with the goodness and the gifts, while forgetting the giver. To all today, I say, consider your ways!

“Father, thank you that your Word has been given to all people of all time. May we pause this morning and consider the way in which we have been living. Let us be sure that you have been given the proper priority, and that the things which belong to you are among the first on our list. We pray that nothing would supersede your place, or be higher in importance than what you deserve. Help us to honestly consider these things with a true heart. And we trust that you will show us all things. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.”