We are discussing the different
things that can occupy your time and with which you build your
house (your life). There are things that can be regarded as
building your house with straw, because when you go through a
difficult time in your life, these things that you spent your time
on, will not help you get through the crisis one bit. There are
also things like your work that can be regarded as sticks in your
life. It is important, but should not be the most significant thing
that your life revolves around. Then we get the bricks in your
life. Now they are the most important. They are the things
that your world should revolve around. I am going to discuss them
in detail over the next couple of weeks. But let's start with the
most important brick. I am sure you guessed it, it is the Lord,
Jesus Christ.
- Our foundation - Our faith in
God
Your faith should be the foundation
of your life and should receive the number one spot. Your
relationship with the Lord should be your main priority in life.
That is the first commandment of our new covenant with
Christ:
"You must love the Lord your God
with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your
strength." Mark 12:30.
He must be the One you think about
when you get up in the morning. He must be the One you run to when
you have a problem, He must be the One you share your joys and
delights with, He must be the One your whole day revolves around.
Involve Him in everything, because He wants to be part of
everything in your life. He wants you in totality. Of course He
knows you need to work and you need to spend time with your family
etc, but He wants to be part of it all. Involve Him.
Afterall, Jesus said: "Your
Heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and He will give you
all you need from day to day if you live for Him and make the
Kingdom of God your primary concern."
We therefore need to seek God
first, and then all other matters will be dealt with. It
was the same when the Jews returned to the Promised Land after
being exiled for 70 years. They were confident and happy to be back
in their own land. They built an altar to the Lord and soon started
rebuilding the Temple of God. But their enthusiasm quickly withered
away as the hardship of being back in their desolate country
started to get to them. They had a good life back in Babylon and
some of them even had good businesses there and now they returned
to a deserted, gloomy wasteland open to attacks from various
enemies in the region. They started to feel depressed and left the
building of the temple to try and make a living and build their own
houses. Soon enough they didn't have money and to top it all off,
they started to experience crop failures and rapid increasing
inflation. They didn't notice that these were sent from God because
they stopped building His Temple, stopped putting Him first in
their lives. God had to send the prophet, Haggai to tell them to
stop with worrying and caring only about their own houses and
lives, but to finish His Temple. He should be first and then all
other things would be given besides.
And it is the same with us. The
temple of the Holy Spirit is our bodies and we should keep it clean
and in as good a health as we can and we should use our temple to
glorify God and give Him the attention He deserves.
Put God first in your life,
dedicate everything to Him. He is the foundation of your brick
house and without Him even the bricks in your life will amount to
nothing good. Without your foundation, the brick house will
eventually come tumbling down. God wants first place, and you know
what, if you give it to Him, your life will have meaning and you
will have the joy of the Lord to guide you through this life!
Lord Jesus, please help us to give
You the number one spot in our lives that You so thoroughly
deserve. You are our everything and without You, our whole lives
will amount to nothing good. Thank you for always being there for
us. Amen