Haggai 1:8-9 Then God said:
"Here's what I want you to do:
Climb into the hills and cut some timber.
Bring it down and rebuild the Temple.
Do it just for me. Honor me.
You've had great ambitions for yourselves, but nothing has come of it.
The little you have brought to my Temple I've blown away—there was nothing to it. “
God’s Honor is central. We are His children. Children reflect their parents’ lives and so we reflect His life. Our bodies are His Temple. Our choices affect the quality of our lives and the honor of His name. We aren’t consciously aware of the need to honor God because our own pursuits or needs are at the forefront of our minds. We’re busy with life – our life and balancing all the balls of responsibility.
We make choices out of those needs. We respond to the stimuli around us. If we’re into balancing then His honor is just one more ball to balance. However, if we’re into centrality and Christ is at the center of everything we are and do; honoring God just becomes as natural as breathing.
A well known tele-evangelist recently said in her blog “I live in a rhythm that brings an overall balance.” Yet, that rhythm has not included honoring her marriage or her God. That is not balance; but denial. One doesn’t have to know the circumstances of the breakup to know that this is a marriage that took a backseat to ministry.
God doesn’t want our ministry without an honoring relationship. He wants relationship and He wants that relationship reflected in every other relationship in our lives, especially our marriages. Our marriage is a reflection of Christ’s relationship to the church. Our marriage brings honor and glory to God or is a living testimony that we haven’t put the Word into action in that relationship. It communicates to some that the Word doesn’t work or you can discriminate about which scripture to obey.
Let this be a warning to us to check our own lives. Are we honoring God in our relationships? Is Christ at the Center of our lives or relegated to a compartment or a ball to be balanced? Are we ministering out of selfish ambition while our marriage and family are suffering?
Today, what will “honoring God” look like in our lives?
6 comments:
"Do it just for me. Honor me.
You've had great ambitions for yourselves, but nothing has come of it.
The little you have brought to my Temple I've blown away—there was nothing to it. “
So honoring God is central because he can destroy
us at anytime? I am sure it has to feel terrible for
you to live in such fear all the time. To live under
a dictatorship with no way out except the promise
of something better when you die.
Go live your your life and it and the people around
you will be better for it.
Interesting conclusion for a motivation to honor God. Honoring God with one's life comes out of relationship with Him not out of obligation or fear. That relationship was made possible by God's amazing love and grace. It is Christ living within the person who has decided to follow Him that enables one to honor God.
The people in Haggai had been returned to Israel for the express purpose of rebuilding the Temple. The Temple being in ruins brought shame on the Israelites and God. To restore the Temple would remove that shame. They started the work and poured the foundation but became distracted from their purpose. Haggai was sent to refocus them on their purpose. Building homes and planting vineyards wasn't wrong in itself. But to the exclusion of fulfilling their purpose it became dishonoring to God and themselves. They forgot Who they were and their purpose was lost in their pursuits.
Christians are on a journey and sometimes we get distracted from our purpose and high calling to live a life worthy of our calling. God doesn't destroy us; we're pretty good at that all by ourselves. He pursues us with His Spirit through His Word. Correction comes from a loving, gracious Father who has nothing but the best for us but knows we are settling for less.
So, go live your live lavished in His love, empowered by His grace, and worthy of His calling and you and others will be better for it.
I guess I don't see how I could be better for it.
If we jump forward from 500 BC to now.
And we look at the Israelis and Palestine and what
is happening to the Palestinians.
How could I be motived to honor god while
small children die in refugee camps? Does
a child living with no hope not pray? Are they not
worthy of a life also? If it was your child, would you feel the same?
For me it goes against basic human decently to honor God.
Why is it God's fault and not man's?
The children living in the refugee camps are doing so because people are living their lives the way they want to with no thought of how it will affect others. Isn't that what you said we should do?
What is basic human decency?
So basically, you don't believe in God or you're blaming Him for all the woes in the world.
When do others take responsibility for their actions?
Why is it so easy to blame God instead of the devil? The devil has come to steal, kill and destroy. God has come to give us life to the fullest.
When you reject God you are cooperating with the devil and his lies and destruction. Is that what you want?
There is evil in the world but God is not the author of it. People cooperate with the evil and perpetuate it and then blame God when He doesn't rescue us at the snap of a finger.
You were made by God for God's glory and honor. When you honor Him you fulfill your purpose -- that is why you would be better off honoring Him.
There's no desire in you to honor God because you don't know Him. He's pursuing you even in your questions, confusion and anger. It doesn't put Him off.
You don't have to honor God; but the Bible tells us that one day "every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord."
Honoring God is also by knowing Him through His son Jesus Christ and what He did for us on the cross to remove the barrier of sin that seperated us from God (Gal.4:3-9;Heb.8:11-12). Also by living a godly lifestyle by our actions(1John 1:6;4;7
Eva
You are right on, Eva. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
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