paneled houses

It's hard to evaluate your own sin, but it may be that my biggest downfall is my own self-centeredness. 

I thought about that this morning as I read the book of Haggai, because Haggai was sent to the people because they were focusing only on themselves.

Look at this, from Haggai 1:3-6 & 9: "Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 'Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?' Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: 'Give careful thought to your ways. 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. . . . 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 your own house.'"

Well, actually, I am literally busy with my own house, since we just moved into a newly built home this year. But even figuratively, what a warning shot for me! 

I confess to sometimes getting caught up in the American Way, that ladder-climbing, stuff-accumulating, beauty-worshiping culture that says he who dies with the most toys, biggest bank account, and prettiest trophy spouse wins. I can spend a lot of effort building my own little empire, whether at work or home. 

And you have to be practical. I mean, there are plenty of people in our church who can do church ministry, but no one else is going to make sure my house is maintained and my family taken care of. If I don't take care of things at home, pretty soon we're just going to be a burden on other people.

That's not how God looks at it, though. He points out to his people through the prophet that he controls whether their work succeeds or fails. He provides. And when the people chose to ignore their relationship with him - letting the house of worship remain a ruin means gathering for worship wasn't happening either - he chose not to provide as a way of getting their attention back.

Am I living luxuriously in a paneled house while ministry happens slowly or not at all because there aren't people or resources to get it done? There are probably times when that is true. 

I wonder what my life would be like if I could turn that around. What if I were so involved in kingdom work that I didn't have time to sweep the garage? What if I gave so much money that I had to delay building my deck one more year?

My neighbors might wonder, but I bet I'd be happier.