Don't Forget the Little Works

"Why are you living in luxurious house while my house lies in ruins? This is what the Lord Almighty says: Consider how things are going for you! You have planted much but harvested little. You have food to eat, but not enough to fill you up. You have wine to drink, but not enough to satisfy your thirst. You have clothing enough to wear, but not enough to keep you warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes.
This is what the Lord Almighty says: Consider how things are going for you!" Haggai 1:4-7

This message was given after the exiles returned home to Jerusalem. Their city was destroyed, they  had no homes, and no temple to worship in. At first, when they had returned, they had started to rebuild the temple, but for whatever reason, they stopped. It doesn't really matter what the reason was. What matters is simply that they stopped rebuilding the temple, and started focusing on the physical things that they needed, rather than what God needed from them. What it boils down to is this: they didn't trust God to provide for them, or to wait until God was taken care of first. Their priorities were all messed up.

Are our priorities messed up as well? I'm not saying God comes first, don't go to work and neglect your family for His sake. What I am saying is this: when was the last time you actually did something that God needed you to do? We think of God as someone who doesn't ever need anything from us. The verse about the stones crying out if the disciples were to keep quiet in Luke 19 comes to mind. People think that God is God, and needs nothing from us. I disagree.

God needs us to be His hands and feet. He has jobs and plans for us. Luke 10:2 says that the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. And we can't forget our churches. Our bodies are our temple, but that doesn't mean that we can neglect our churches. A place of prayer and of worship, a place that has been dedicated to the service of God. What does it show the world if our homes and lawns are perfect, but our church needs a new roof? Or it needs a new coat of paint? Or the lawn just needs to be mowed?

Don't overlook the little things that need to be done for the Kingdom. The time that you spend doing those things we not return void. We do things for the people we love, and the Bible tells us that faith without works is dead. It doesn't say miraculous works, or great works. It just says works. Be faithful in the little things.

Sam