Today’s reading is from Haggai 1.

2A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies: “The people procrastinate. They say this isn’t the right time to rebuild my Temple, the Temple of God.”

3-4Shortly after that, God said more and Haggai spoke it: “How is it that it’s the ‘right time’ for you to live in your fine new homes while the Home, God’s Temple, is in ruins?”

5-6And then a little later, God-of-the-Angel-Armies spoke out again:

   ”Take a good, hard look at your life.
   Think it over.
You have spent a lot of money,
   but you haven’t much to show for it.
You keep filling your plates,
   but you never get filled up.
You keep drinking and drinking and drinking,
   but you’re always thirsty.
You put on layer after layer of clothes,
   but you can’t get warm.
And the people who work for you,
   what are they getting out of it?
Not much—
   a leaky, rusted-out bucket, that’s what.

We’re currently discussing tithing and the working of finances for the church in eXchange, and this scripture really hits home with me today. I’ve wasted a lot of time and money and other resources on things that aren’t redeemable. What do I have to show for it?

More credit card debt. More bills. More things tying me down. I want to be light! I want to live with a light load, and it’s all up to how I handle things on whether that happens or not.

My wife and I have, off and on, been attacking the stupid debt we’ve accumulated over the years. Recently, however, we’ve noticed a newfound fervor in this attack. Why? We’ve finally said, “that’s it God. It’s all yours. Do what you want.”

The best part? It seems to be working.

LORD GOD, I want to keep my eyes on you. I want what you want, and I want to help me your hands and feet and eyes and heart while on this earth. I would ask you to bless my efforts, but that would insinuate that they might not be of you. I want what you want God. I want what you want.

[tags]haggai, old testament, finances, debt, credit cards, jesus, god, christ, church[/tags]

Today’s reading is from Luke 3.

10The crowd asked him, “Then what are we supposed to do?”

11″If you have two coats, give one away,” he said. “Do the same with your food.”

12Tax men also came to be baptized and said, “Teacher, what should we do?”

13He told them, “No more extortion—collect only what is required by law.”

14Soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”

   He told them, “No shakedowns, no blackmail—and be content with your rations.”

Content. To me, that’s the keyword to these verses. People are asking how to live, asking what they need to change in their lives.

The above also says to me that, by default, we’re selfish creatures. We aren’t naturally giving, and it takes someone or something teaching us that we should give away what we have.

I’m leading worship at church this Sunday, and we’re doing a song that very much fits in with what John says. The song is called Breathing the Breath by Matt Redman. Here’s a tidbit of the lyrics:

We have nothing to give
That didn’t first come from Your hands
We have nothing to offer You
Which You did not provide
Every good, perfect gift comes from
Your kind and gracious heart
And all we do is give back to You
What always has been Yours

Lord, thanks for showing us the way. Without you, we’d have degraded to animals fighting for control of things that aren’t important. Not only do I ask that you soften our hearts to know compassion for others, but that you open our eyes so we can see these opportunities to help others. To give away coats. To be content with our rations.

[tags]content, john the baptist, luke, matt redman, breathing the breath, jesus, god, mission[/tags]

Today’s reading is from Ezekiel 24. God has spent the last two and a half chapters of Ezekiel telling Jerusalem and Samaria how bad they’ve screwed up, but then he really lays it down with Ezekiel, and uses Ezekiels’ wife as an example.

15-17 God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, I’m about to take from you the delight of your life—a real blow, I know. But, please, no tears. Keep your grief to yourself. No public mourning. Get dressed as usual and go about your work—none of the usual funeral rituals.”

18 I preached to the people in the morning. That evening my wife died. The next morning I did as I’d been told.

19 The people came to me, saying, “Tell us why you’re acting like this. What does it mean, anyway?”

20-21 So I told them, “God’s Word came to me, saying, ‘Tell the family of Israel, This is what God, the Master, says: I will desecrate my Sanctuary, your proud impregnable fort, the delight of your life, your heart’s desire. The children you left behind will be killed.

22-24 “‘Then you’ll do exactly as I’ve done. You’ll perform none of the usual funeral rituals. You’ll get dressed as usual and go about your work. No tears. But your sins will eat away at you from within and you’ll groan among yourselves. Ezekiel will be your example. The way he did it is the way you’ll do it.

I don’t know about you, but if I were Ezekiel, I’d be pissed. Here I am, prophesying, telling Jerusalem how bad they’ve screwed things up, and you’d think they’d eventually get it, but they didn’t. They just kept on doing things their way.

So, God tells Ezekiel, “sorry dude, but they’re not listening. What’s about to happen is going to suck, but it’s necessary.” AND… God says, “no tears.” Ezekiel couldn’t cry about it.

Ezekiel not crying served as a real object lesson, in that Jerusalem wouldn’t even care about being cut down. Instead of mourning those who die, and setting up appropriate funeral arrangements, and realizing the error of their ways, they’ll just keep on doing what they do. Being selfish. Living for themselves.

LORD GOD, may I never get to that point.

[tags]ezekiel, jerusalem, samaria, funeral, selfishness[/tags]

Today’s reading is from Ezekiel 20. God is talking about saving the Jews as they left Egypt and sparing judgement on their children, but their children ended up doing the same things as the parents.

21-22 “‘But the children also rebelled against me. They neither followed my statutes nor kept my laws for living upright and well. And they desecrated my Sabbaths. I seriously considered dumping my anger on them, right there in the desert. But I thought better of it and acted out of who I was, not by what I felt, so that I might be honored and not blasphemed by the nations who had seen me bring them out.

Acting out of who we are, not what we feel. To me, this little phrase is a goldmine. God gives us a fine example of how to make decisions, even when our emotions are high and our souls on fire with anger. We need to step back, and decide to make our decision out of who we are, and not by what we’re feeling at the time.

We are part of so many situations where someone wrongs us, or they complain about their life and we think “complainer” instead of having compassion for them and their situation. More evidence that we simply act by what we feel at that particular moment, and not by who we are (and, even more so, who we are in Christ).

LORD GOD, may I evolve in your Word as I feed on it, and may it continually bring to light my shortcomings. Guide my decision making by who I am, and not by the emotions I’m feeling as they will so often lead me astray. May your ways be my ways God.

[tags]ezekiel, emotions, old testament, egypt, jews, children, anger, decisions[/tags]

Today’s reading is from Ezekiel 18.

24 “The same thing goes for a good person who turns his back on an upright life and starts sinning, plunging into the same vile obscenities that the wicked person practices. Will this person live? I don’t keep a list of all the things this person did right, like money in the bank he can draw on. Because of his defection, because he accumulates sin, he’ll die.

It’s funny how this falls right in line with faith, not works, saving someone’s soul. It’s not about what we do in this life; it’s about that faith we have that Jesus is who he says he is. It’s about believing, truly believing, he died for us personally. He’s the savior of mankind, the personal savior of all who have breathed, are breathing, or will ever draw breath.

[tags]jesus, savior, ezekiel, old testament[/tags]