Haggai

It took me about 7 minutes to read through the letter that records 4 revelations that Haggai received from God.  Haggai’s record of proclaiming God’s word spanned nearly 4 months; that’s it.  His first audience was two people: the governor of Judah and the high priest.  I think the message of Haggai to the returning exiles is an important message to God’s people in the 21^st century.  The “house” God is concerned about now if the church (see Ephesians 2:21-22).  We are often tempted to take care of our own house first; our family as well as our personal dwelling.  But Haggai says that to take care of God’s house (which are the people not any particular meeting place) is a way to honor him.  James wrote that taking care of the desperate within the church is one of the greatest expression of Christianity (James 1:27).  Paul reminded Timothy that taking care of the needy in our physical family is vital as well (1 Timothy 5:4).  The problem that the resettled exiles created was that they were selfishly taking care of themselves at the expense of neglecting God’s commissioned work.  Haggai also shared that God will provide for those who seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness; which sounds awfully familiar (Matthew 6:33).

Stuart