"Give careful thought to your ways"

'Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?"
Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.
This is what the Lord Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored," says the Lord. "You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?" declares the Lord Almighty. "Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house."

-Haggai 1:3-9

As I lay down to sleep last night and began my night-time prayers, I began to thank God for a well-lived day. Suddenly, alarm bells rang off in my mind... I had not lived a well-lived day. I had only expected to. I began to list off the things I had done, studying, cooking, studying, eating, studying, wrote my developmental psych exam half-heartedly, played Tower of Hanoi (www.mazeworks.com/hanoi), studied, went to sleep. What had I done to glorify God? I didn't even commit my studies to him.

When I woke up to read Haggai this morning, I recognized the type of paradigm in the Israelites that I had been struggling with. I had been so concerned with enjoying my own life and finding my own identity, that I had stopped working on the house of God, which I presume now to be his Kingdom. I need to start giving "careful thought to my ways." I don't want to live my life in futility. I want my life to count for something. I want to take part in the building of God's kingdom, and that begins by honestly thanking God each night for a day well-lived.

His instructions to His people were to "build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored." That is how we should live our lives--building His house, building His kingdom so that God can enjoy it and God will be honoured. If we don't, our lives will not yield any thing : "you expect much, but see, it turned out to be little." What are these expectations? To make money? To get good grades? To develop good relationships? To travel? Again, if we are not rooted in Christ, all our attempts to succeed will only fail.