Afternoon Thoughts - Check Yourself

Thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways. (Haggai 1:7) I love it when God tells us to check ourselves. I believe He does it whenever we’re getting carried away with ourselves and miss out on what He would have us to actually be getting carried with. In this situation the people have got carried away with looking after their own business and as a result not getting why they ain’t succeeding at anything in life – so they get crop failure, holes in their money bags and overall dissatisfaction. When I say I love it when God tells us to check ourselves, it’s not the sado-masochist in me that loves to see people suffer, it’s actually the love-in-hindsight of a Father who actually doesn’t want us to suffer anymore, but wants us to check ourselves before we wreck ourselves. It should be obvious that this individualistic, materialistic, selfish, ego-based way of living where things drive us – even the most honourable things like family welfare – and yet we find no satisfaction in all of that. Indeed we get so stuck in the rat-race that we get almost comfortable in the futile pursuit of selfish gains where we’re never satisfied, but always in the hope of an elusive and indeed non-existent fantasy life. And like waking up from Groundhog Day of misery God wants us to check what we’re doing and what we’re getting from it and not just that, but to see a way of escape. To see that there’s actually more to life than the house, the family, the car, the children, the job, the shopping, the mortgage, the bills, etc. There’s the great building project that He’s got in mind for us – to be building blocks in the Temple He’s building where He will live – where His kingdom rules over all, where His values are pronounced on all, and where we find real peace, real joy, real love and real satisfaction. The Bible is the outline of God reaching out to a humanity that’s rejected Him even though He created them and offering a way for them to actually be what they were always created to be. To do that we need to put Him and His business first in our lives. And if we are – that’s all good, but just in case I invite us to check ourselves, our motives, what drives what we do, what we are doing and what we’re getting from it. 4 His Name’s Sake Shalom da man cd