Monday, April 28, 2008
Haggai 1:1-6
1:1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest: “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. (ESV)
by Linda Harris
The Jews rebuilt their own homes, even to a luxurious level. But they neglected the house of God. Doing time in Babylon didn’t cure their selfishness.
Materialism runs rampant in our society. Christians neglect giving to the church. The Barna Group reports, “One out of every six born again Christians (16%) gave no money to his/her church during 1999. The proportion who tithed to their church was just 8%. In general, the more money a person makes the less likely he/she is to tithe.” How is your giving to your church? Do you give the full ten percent and beyond? Do you give cheerfully (2 Corinthians 9:7)?
Copyright Information
Daily Bible Meditations are taken from The Helping Hand,a Sabbath School student quarterly for youth and adults. Copyright © 2008, Seventh Day Baptist Board of Christian Education, Inc.
Scripture quotations marked "ESV" are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Text provided by the Crossway Bibles Web Service .
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