Haggai 1

As God began to lovingly reach out to mankind after the fall in the garden, mankind worked very hard at putting God in His place.  Just twelve years after the wisest man that ever lived built the most magnificent church ever built, he began serving other gods and making a lot of bad choices. Solomon spent an incalculable amount of money to basically tell God where He needed to stay and that if he ever needed Him, he knew where to find Him.   That was the attitude of God's chosen people at the time and it seems to be very prevalent in today's modern religious thinking as well. The last thing that mankind should do in these last moments is place God in a box, then walk away and seek Him only when we need something from Him. We need to place God on a throne in the middle of our lives and daily crown Him with praise like never before!   When Haggai stepped on the scene he had history to look to, so he knew how stiff-necked and easily distracted God's people could be.  He did what any good preacher should do in that situation, he preached a twenty-four day revival and encouraged the people to get up and do something for God.   When Jesus stepped on the scene in John 2:19 and stood in the middle of the people's work, He emphatically stated, " Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up!" Many who heard Him that day simply missed the boat. The Jews instantly defended the stones that made up God's pretty little box and in doing so, just as instantly revealed the shallowness of their hearts.   Of course today we know that Jesus was speaking of His body but aren't we sometimes just as guilty as those Jews were then when we cannot see past the brick and mortar? Mankind is building mega churches at an unprecedented rate, yet at the same time the world is tearing down the true temple of God.   When God spoke through the prophet Isaiah and said in 66:1, "Where is the house you will build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?" He knew that some seven hundred years later that the apostle Paul would declare in 1 Cor. 3:16, " Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?   The people of F.U.P.C.E. have been called to be builders, and re-builders in the kingdom of God. With one hand we need to reach out to new people and aid them in establishing the foundation on which to build a better life, that being the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor 3:11). While with our other hand reaching out with love, and support to those saints who are allowing the Holy Ghost to rebuild upon the rubble.    Verses five and seven of Haggai chapter one says, "Consider your ways". The first instance God is showing us the bad place in life we may find ourselves. The second instance He telling us how to get out of that place. Verse eight, " Bring the wood and build the house". I know that it is hard to see through the pain but it really is that simple. It's key to remember that it's for His pleasure and His glory, not ours. Robert MacPhee