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YOUR LIFE'S PRIORITIES

Pressures, demands, expectations, and To-Do-Lists
push in from all sides and assault our schedules.
Do this!
Be there!
Finish that!
Call them!
Everyone seems to want something from us.
Family – friends – school – work –church – clubs
Soon we have little left to give as we run out of energy and time and patience.
We find ourselves rushing through life,
Attending to the necessary,
The immediate and urgent
The important is all too often left in the dust.
Our problem is not the volume of demands
or lack of scheduling skills,
but values----what is truly important to us!
Our values and priorities are reflected in how we use our resources: time, money, strength, and talent.
Often our actions contradict our words.
We say God is number one in our lives, but then we reduce in importance God to a lesser number on our “to do” lists.
Twenty-five centuries ago, a voice was heard, calling men and women to the right priorities.
Haggai knew what was important and what had to be done, and he challenged God’s people to respond.
HAGGAI 1:2-11 (NLT)
4 “Why are you living in luxurious houses while my house lies in ruins?
5 This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Look at what’s happening to you!
6 You have planted much but harvest little. You eat but are not satisfied. You drink but are still thirsty. You put on clothes but cannot keep warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes!

The sin of the Jews was neglecting God’s will, after their return from captivity in Babylon.
Living for God we may encounter discouragement to hold us up from God’s work, yet we must get back to work.
The Jews did not say that they would not rebuild the temple but it lost importance to them.
People do not say they will never repent and reform, and come to Jesus for salvation, but, not right now, later.
And so the great business we were sent into the world to do, is not done.
The Jews neglected the building of God's house, that they might have more time and money for worldly affairs.
Many good works have been intended, but not done, because people suppose the proper time has not come.  Believers then let slip opportunities of usefulness, and sinners delay the concerns of their souls, till it’s too late.
If we labor only for worldly things that perish, as the Jews did in the Old Testament, we displease God and find our lives empty of any real purpose. 
It should be a great concern of everyone to examine our own hearts concerning our spiritual state.
Sin is what we must answer for; responsibility is what we must do.
Let those who have put off their return to God, return with all their heart, while there is time.
And rebuild the temple in their hearts.
Let the glory of this latter temple be greater than that of the former temple.
Again, rebuild the temple in your heart for Jesus Christ.







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