A House in Waste

You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but you have not enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you are clothed, but there is none warm; and he that earns wages earns wages to put into a bag with holes.

Thus says the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.

Why? Says the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that is in waste.”

Haggai 1: 6 – 7; 9

I read through the words several times – not because I did not understand but because I thought God might have gotten a bit too personal this go around.

I will be honest. I know I am not where I am supposed to be. I have not been in a long time. Sure, I pray. Sure, I study. Sure, I give. But I am not obedient to the call of God in other areas of my life – and I KNOW it.

“Consider your ways.” The words of Scripture called out to me. The Scripture has been calling out to me. I have been like a kid defying his parents with his fingers in his ears yelling “La,la,la,la” trying to block out the call.

For the record, no matter how loud you yell externally, you will never block the internal call from God.

I get it. And this time I mean I REALLY get it. I have made bad choices and I have landed in a bad place. Those bad choices and this bad place have spilled over on to the rest of my life. In other words – I am considering my ways, and am tired of having God’s house in waste.

I will need to keep reminding myself for the time being. It is easy to forget what we have experienced or encountered as soon as we walk away. Paul says it is like looking in a mirror and as soon as you walk away you forgot what was reflected in the mirror. But I do not want to forget or ignore any more.

My confession coupled with my desire to change will only be bolstered by a continued reminder of the need to change. Ignoring it did nothing. Hoping and wishing did nothing. Only taking direct action will do what needs to be done.

And now the real challenge faces me down – how willing am I to invest what is required to see that change?

I took what the Word said and what had been in my heart and I determined that I am willing. So I began to verbalize the changes I knew I needed to take – avoiding the “I won’ts” and focusing on the “I wills.”

I confessed to my husband that I believed we were where we were as a family because I had let the temple fall into waste. I meant it.

“What are you going to do about it?” He asked. He has great ideas about training and exercise. He loves me where I am but he is willing to join in the journey to change.

I knew that fixing this house of waste was not on him. I knew that I had to do some things different, but I was not sure what those things were or how to make things different. “I know that with finances it’s easy because we start with the tithe. And I am finding that even investing in the Scripture is easier because I am investing that first time in the morning to get it done. I just don’t have time in my day for tithing for health.”

Why is it that when we say something aloud that we hear the truth in the words we speak? In that moment I knew that I had the time, I just had other ways that I preferred to waste it.

This morning I invested some of my time into a schedule that makes way for tithing (or putting 10% of my time into the things that matter): Scripture, work, health (labor and exercise); home

Amazingly, when I broke it all down, it fell almost in line with the current family schedule. Which means, if I do what I know to do then I will get everything done that needs to be done INCLUDING getting God’s house out of a wasteful place.

Knowing it with such certainty and having the courage to admit it are both vital tools to making it a reality in my life. For me, it is time that I make a move to no longer be a house in waste.

Be blessed,

What is holding you back from being all that you are designed to be? What are you willing to commit right now to make the change that you need and want to see? It starts now