I have been out of the country for the past 12 days. The last 12 posts were written before I left and scheduled to post… This will be a short break from 2 Timothy 1:1 – 14.
This morning I was on our Tuesday morning online study. We were in Haggi. I was on primarily to give the guys an update on the Nepal project. As they were discussing the book something stood out to me. Look at Haggai 2:3 and Ezra 3:12. These books happen at about the same time.
The attitude of the elders in Ezra 3:12 that is referred to in Haggai 2:3 is that what they have built is not as glorious as what was destroyed. The kicker comes for me in Haggai 2:9. The Lord tells them that the current temple will have far more glory than the one that was destroyed. This is the temple to which Christ comes.
As I thought through this, there have been several times that things I have been doing in ministry either in my church or projects like Nepal, have not seemed to go well. They seemed to be bunt singles rather than home runs. I confess I have despaired over some of those events.
Haggai 2:9 reminds me that it is not what I do that matters. What matters is what the Lord does with what I do. I tend to use the wrong measures. I tend to look for immediate results, the home run, the grand slam. But the Lord can take my bunt single and make it a grand slam.
The painful truth is, no matter what I do, no matter how glorious I may think it may be, it will not be worthy of His glory. It is only as He invests it with His purpose and His power that anything I may offer accrues value. Further, I may never see that glory.
The attitude of the elders in Ezra 3:12 that is referred to in Haggai 2:3 is that what they have built is not as glorious as what was destroyed. The kicker comes for me in Haggai 2:9. The Lord tells them that the current temple will have far more glory than the one that was destroyed. This is the temple to which Christ comes.
As I thought through this, there have been several times that things I have been doing in ministry either in my church or projects like Nepal, have not seemed to go well. They seemed to be bunt singles rather than home runs. I confess I have despaired over some of those events.
Haggai 2:9 reminds me that it is not what I do that matters. What matters is what the Lord does with what I do. I tend to use the wrong measures. I tend to look for immediate results, the home run, the grand slam. But the Lord can take my bunt single and make it a grand slam.
The painful truth is, no matter what I do, no matter how glorious I may think it may be, it will not be worthy of His glory. It is only as He invests it with His purpose and His power that anything I may offer accrues value. Further, I may never see that glory.
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