In the past two or so months, I've been getting accustomed to this crazy thing called college. While balancing school, debate, and many new [and might I add awesome] friendships, sometimes I find myself placing God on the back shelf. Not only is this plain wrong, but it's self-destructive. Without placing God as my first priority, I immediately feel the loss of peace and joy while my doubts increase. I know that when I choose something else (many times sleep) over time with God, I suffer personally.
College has taught me a lot about priorities. About stressing less about a to do list since it will never end. About always putting people first because friendships last longer than grades. Finally, it's taught me a lot about putting God first because the harvest reaped from doing so can't be found anywhere else.
A few days ago, I randomly flipped my Bible to Haggai 1 and saw a passage I had highlighted multiple months ago. In this chapter, it seems as if God is telling Haggai to speak to His people and tell them to let go of their worldly possessions and run back to Him. In other words, to set their priorities straight.
God approaches His people and says, "Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it."
God is telling His people to give up on material wealth. It has not and will never satisfy them. He tells them to evaluate their lives-is what you're chasing really worth the run? Of course, He already knows the answer. Because of this, He tells them to rebuild His house. His temple. God tells His people to replace their material goods with Him-because He knows that this is best for them and He loves them. He destroys their goods and tells them it's because they've disregarded His ruined house.
Although this might seem like a depressing passage, I see a positive thing occurring. In todays society, we are taught to put material possessions first. If someone loses their house, can't afford the latest trend, or must sell something in order to provide for their families it's seen as a disadvantage. This is how we're brought up-to judge each other based on what we own. However, God shakes this perspective up in this passage. I gain hope from this passage because God saw His people drowning in their material desires but lacking spiritually. Instead of giving up on them, He took away what was causing them to stumble, and gave them the mission run to Him instead. This passage gives me hope because I see our current society struggling with this but I have the anticipation that God can intervene and shake things up for us. He has the power to re-prioritize our lives and point us back to Him-out of love for us and for our benefit.
However, there are more things than materials that keep us from putting God first. Whether that's grades, money, or other relationships, something else always seems to hinder us from running after God whole-heartedly. Personally, it feels as if this is a never ending problem-because, to be honest, these distractions will always be there to tempt us. However, God will also always be there to help us combat these temptations and instead give us the desire to chase after Him. God won't leave us to our pointless greed, but if we ask He'll answer our prayers and be glad to retake His place as #1 in our lives.
The key to this, of course, is to realize what we are lacking and implore God to intervene in our lives. To take away our distracting to-do lists, stop our mindless scanning of the internet, and make His way into our seemingly packed schedules. It is only when we replace our hope to make it materially in this world when we can set up God's house-the place where we talk to Him, read about Him, obey Him-in our lives and not only place it at the core of our day to day lives, but continue to build upon that foundation.
The story continues and ends in Haggai 2. While in the first chapter God commands His people to build His temple and place Him back as number one in their lives, He then tells them to "Be strong...and work. For I am with you."
Haggai not only makes it clear that God has the ability to restructure our priorities, but it gives us hope that God will give us the strength we need to combat society's lies in order to make Him first in our lives while renewing us with peace (verse 9). The first step in doing this, of course, is to ask God to intervene in our lives and shake up our perspectives.
Finally, I'm not saying that all the things that distract us are wrong. Rather, while reading Haggai I have been reminded that while there are many things in life that are good-family, friends, education, technology, etc., God should always remain number one in our lives. One way to place God as Lord over our lives is to allow Him to intervene in our choices we make in regards to each of these areas of our lives. Although I'm sure the people in Haggai may have grumbled in their hearts when they first heard this message from the Lord that He was going to destroy the things that kept them distanced from Him, I am also sure that God blessed them for obeying Him and placing Him once again as Lord over their lives.
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