We don’t have to look very far to see people engaged in home improvement projects. This is one of the most popular contemporary activities.
The book of Haggai in the Old Testament demonstrates that the ancient truths of Scripture are remarkably up-to-date. Haggai records the Lord’s anger with His people because they have abandoned work on His temple, whilst carrying on with the own DIY.
“My house that lies in ruins while each of you busies himself with his own house”
(Haggai ch1 v9).
This neglect of the work of God is reflected in society by a total lack of satisfaction with the worldly lifestyles of the people.
The futility portrayed by Haggai could easily be a picture of today’s western culture. Powerful forces in the media and advertising create false expectations and criteria for what is genuinely valuable in life.
Haggai’s vision of a temple glorifying God is much more than a magnificent architectural construction. In the New Testament, the Church, with Jesus Christ as the cornerstone, is a glorious declaration to the universe of the majesty of God.
Only Jesus Christ in His grace can take the unpromising material of sinful humanity and transform it into the living stones that are the building blocks of His glorious Church. The Lord longs to bless His people, yet too often God simply receives our leftovers.
Jesus makes uncomfortable demands on His disciples and yearns for the sacrifice and obedience that will establish His Church in all its full majesty and glory as the genuine body of Christ revealed here on earth.
