As Christians, we ourselves can get caught up in doing things in the way of the world, especially when it comes to money. A great scripture often quoted, Matthew 6:33, tells us to seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to us. We all know this scripture. The one part of that scripture that's always overlooked is “and his righteousness." This part of the scripture is equally important in "all things” being added to us. In this blog, we will examine the book of Haggai to show us how and why the “and his righteousness” part of the scripture is equally important to flourishing and being blessed. We will see the importance of rebuilding and keeping the temple clean for Him to dwell.
As we continue to read and study the Bible, it’s clear to see that it still reveals, teaches, guides, and corrects us in our lives today.
When it comes to life in general, the world tells us that we don’t need sleep, we need to keep grinding, we got to get to the bag and we have to keep hustling. It promotes this busy culture, wants us to count our achievements, and encourages people to only think about the accolades, success, and money.
Whether we want to admit it or not, those of us who follow Christ can sometimes, intentionally or unintentionally, act like people of the world.
When a person begins to solely focus on business, they'll do whatever it takes to get to a certain amount of success, fame, or notoriety. For them, their business avenues and the thoughts of others are of greater concern, resulting in pushing God to the side instead of making him the priority and working with Him.
Matthew 6:33 KJV says, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
We all know of this scripture.
Whenever anyone quotes this scripture, most of the time the focus is on the first and last parts. People tend to leave off the middle of the scripture, yet it’s equally important to take heed of.
“and his righteousness.”
His righteousness, as it pertains to this scripture, is, by Greek definition, the condition that’s acceptable to God.
(Originally, the Old Testament of the Bible was written in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek. When the Bible was translated into English, some of the words that were used took away some of their context and meaning. So in looking up the definitions of the words in the Bible, I utilize the Concordance for a clearer breakdown of the word. [There is a free one in the app store for the Blue Letter Bible (BLB) app if anyone else wants to check it out.])
Over time, a person can become so engulfed in all their ambitions that their relationship with God starts to take a back seat a little bit at a time. That person starts pouring from an empty cup and begins running on fumes.
When one drifts from God, they start to slowly drift in other areas of their lives as well. In categories like integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, and correctness of thinking, feeling, and acting, a person can start to teeter-totter in each category on those fine lines.
The lines warp and turn into a blur until they no longer exist.
A person's views change.
They start to compromise and then look for ways to justify it.
Starting out as a pinky toe over that line, then a whole foot, and before we know it, we’re all the way on the other side.
If I had to give an analogy, I would say that ordinarily, a Christian wouldn’t think of stealing, but when those lines disappear, they could end up running a pyramid scheme with John Doe for money. With the help of John Doe, they get clients to invest X amount of money into a project that doesn't really exist. They convince themselves that when their clients invest, they know there's a chance of not getting a return to justify their actions. In reality, it's stealing, manipulative, and deceptive.
Those categories that I spoke of (integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking, feeling, and acting (from the concordance)) can only be in acceptable conditions to God if we are aligned with Him, feeding our spirits with His word, and seeking His face.
When we prioritize our ambitions over God, we stray from alignment with God in all areas of our lives.
Yet somehow we convince ourselves that we’re doing these things for the glory of God.
Putting God first in our hearts is supposed to indicate that we choose Him all the time, not only on Sundays from 10:30 to 2:00 PM.
While that is a great start for a new believer, the goal is not to remain a babe on this journey. Being a Christian is a lifestyle. It means that we choose to be Christians when no one is looking and when everyone is looking.
When we sing songs with our lips unto the Lord, we ask Him to rain on us and to pour it out in hope of Him giving us more and more blessings. Yet, our hearts are getting further and further from Him when we put our relationship with Him on the back burner to work toward our ambitions.
Titus 1:16 KJV says, “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.”
The Lord, being the wonderful Father that he is, continues to give us grace, mercy, protection, and even provision; meanwhile, we’ve left the place where He dwells in shambles.
As followers of Christ, we should understand that our physical bodies are considered temples for the Holy Ghost.
1 Corinthians 3:16–17 “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth with you? 17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”
When a person starts to cross certain lines, the enemy uses it as an opening for the enemy to gain access. It says that the enemy walks around seeking those whom he can devour (1 Peter 5:8). He waits for anything to be able to use against a person to draw them away from God, from their inheritance, from their promise, and from their purpose in Christ. He is an accuser!
The actual definition of a devil in Greek is false accuser, slanderer, and calumniator (one who slanders, makes personal attacks on, or makes maliciously false statements and charges about someone)!
When we start to make other things, people, and accomplishments gods over God, it’s leaving room for unclean spirits to dwell in the temple.
Matthew 12:43–45 KJV, “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. 44 Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. 45 Then goeth he and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.”
When a person resists the Holy Ghost enough, He will let go. The Lord gave people over to their reprobate minds (Romans 1:28 KJV).
I know that in the world there are people preaching the “once saved, always saved” doctrine, but it’s simply not true.
We have to read our Bibles for ourselves and ask the Lord for understanding! Philippians 2:12 tells us that we need to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling!
Well, how do we get back on track?
One of the first things God told the people to do, through his prophet Haggai, was to consider their ways.
He told them to think about how they would sow a lot but only bring in a little, eat but never get full, drink but still be thirsty, put on clothes but never get warm, and make money but could never keep any.
Let’s take a moment to do the same. Let’s consider our ways.
The Lord revealed to them that their hands were unclean. And since their hands were unclean, everything that they offered to God was unclean as well.
So, when they would work to get 20 measures, they would only get 10, and when they worked to get the usual 50 vessels, they would only get 20 vessels out of the press.
The Lord tried to get their attention by stifling the work of their hands.
But even those things didn’t turn their faces back toward Him.
So let’s compare those same things to our temple. Their hands were unclean, just like a person’s temple can be unclean when given access to other entities. When that person does something under the duress of the unclean spirits, it’s not giving glory to God, no matter how much a person tries to cover it in Jesus wrapping paper.
There may be some of us who have tried to build something—put money into something—and maybe it’s not doing what it once did. Maybe it hasn't started to do anything, and things are at a standstill. God wants us to turn our faces back toward Him.
Thanks to the new covenant, all we have to do is repent!
Through Jesus Christ, turning our faces back to God is as simple as repenting and turning from our ways that aren’t acceptable to Him.
Turn back to the Lord!
James 4:7 tells us to submit ourselves to God, and when we resist the devil, he will flee from us!
Haggai delivered a message to the people from God that said, “I am with you.”
Just like He was with his people back then. He is with us right now!!
Then, when it came time to rebuild the temple, Haggai 1:14 KJV says, "And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of the LORD of hosts, their God.”
By Hebrew definition, using the concordance as it pertains to this scripture, stirred up means to rouse as if from sleep, awaken, incite, to be excited; awake!
God awakened His people from sleep!
He encouraged them and made them excited to work on the building of His temple!
Now it’s time to rebuild our temple.
Just like he stirred the spirit of his people to rebuild his physical temple, we can ask the Lord to stir our spirit, to awaken us from the slumber, to incite and excite us to rebuild his temple (our body’s) so that he will dwell among us!
When we wholeheartedly pray, we can ask for the Lord to stir us up. Ask Him to help us get excited and motivated to pray, seek His face, and read His word.
With the help of Jesus, we can return to a condition that’s acceptable to Him!
After they were stirred, their crops were blessed. He told them how the glory of this new temple was going to be greater than the former one, that in that new place He would give them peace, and that he would overthrow the thrones of kingdoms!
Follow Us Here!
The Most High God that we serve is the same God right now as he was back then.
So we can be confident that when we rebuild His temple we will also flourish and have peace.
With the help of the Holy Ghost, we can keep up the maintenance on these temples.
We have to remember that Haggai 2:8 says, “The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts.”
So money, which is a tool and not our savior, belongs to God! When we take care of the Lord’s temple, he takes care of ours, and so much more!
Don’t set the Lord to the side or put Him on the back burner for anything! He cares about every aspect of our lives, too! Instead, make Him a priority, partner with Him in everything, and see how things change for the better!
Rebuild the temple!
Keep it holy!
