LifeLink Devotions

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Winter in Wisconsin brings a challenge to keeping clothing clean. Yesterday I brushed up against my car. My black pants were instantly covered with white powder, because my car hasn’t been washed since the last snowfall. The salt on it is really ugly, mainly because on a white car it isn’t very noticeable.   I could take the car to a car wash and remove the salt, but the flaws in the paint would still be there. My one older vehicle is  showing the signs of age. The paint has chipped in some places and the inevitable bubbles of rust are appearing in other areas. No matter what I do, I cannot return that vehicle to its former days of glory when it was new. It will always be used and worn. I can keep it clean and running, but never will it be new again.

It is very tempting to look backwards to the days when something was better and wish we could have it that way again. We want our youth. We want the body we had when we were 18. We want the job we had before this one. We want the money we had before the emergency fund was drained. We want the retirement fund we had before the stock market took a big percentage of it away. We want the music in church we sang when we were young. We want, we want, we want. The fact is that too many of us keep from going forward by looking back to the good old days. This can cause us to become cynical about the future. We are very easily swayed into the belief that things will never again be as glorious as they once were. The result is apathy and complacency, and eventual death – both personal and corporate.

The nation of Israel was in a similar situation. They had lost hope for the future by focusing on the past. They had done their best to provide for themselves but had failed to put their full energy into accomplishing God’s purpose. (Read Haggai 1) Then the Lord intervenes to correct their thinking and their activity.

Haggai 2:6-9  “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD Almighty. ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the LORD Almighty. ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the LORD Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the LORD Almighty.”

God reminds them that their best plans to succeed and provide for themselves have failed because they were not doing what God had called them to do. Instead of building His temple they built their own houses. Their focus on the past had caused them to live in fear of the future. But the LORD says to them three times “I am with you,” and then gives them this promise – “The glory of the future will be greater than the glory of the past.”

I personally chose this passage of Scripture many year’s ago as my theme for our church’s building program. The LORD asked the people of Jerusalem “Who is left that can remember the glory of this house in the past?” We had many attending who could. But we couldn’t let the past victories and success stories of the church keep us from the future victories God had in store. He promised to fill the house with His glory, and it would be greater than any past glory. So, with our eyes fixed on the future, we looked to the LORD Almighty who was about to shake the Chippewa Valley and fill His house with His glory.

Don’t look back to what was. Look ahead to what will be. Remember the words of the LORD – “I am with you…Be strong, for I am with you…and my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.” (Haggai 1:13, 2:4-5)

Pastor John