“”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 his own house.“
Haggai 1:9
Inside of each Christian are two houses. One house is the temple of the Lord. It was forged when the Christian made the commitment to serve only God and to trust only in Him. This is the house we live in on Sundays, when we attend our church, and on whatever day we choose to open our Bibles or pray to our Savior. It’s the house where we go to when we need solace or comfort or when things aren’t going our way. God’s house is available to us at all times, but we only visit when we remember.
Haggai the prophet is talking to the Jewish people while they were exile about the rebuilding of God’s temple. But what do we glean for today’s believer? We are still a people who possess multiple houses. We have God’s house, and then we have our real house. Our material house should be residing in within our sphere of God’s domain, but it often doesn’t work out that way. Sometimes, we spend far too much time on improving what we can see and feel and what can keep us physically comfortable rather than on what is truly important.
We need to remember that God’s house comes first. We have houses and things, but the condition of God’s house in our lives should always be first and foremost. How is the condition of God’s house? Do you keep it clean and well organized? Do you show it obvious attention, or, like the temple, is it a ruin? Our bodies, as believers, are the temples of the Holy Spirit. Hopefully, we live like it means something to us.
* A disciple concentrates on God’s house before his own
Application: What is the condition of God’s temple in your life? Have you disregarded His for yours?