July 31

Day 139: Lesser Things

Haggai spoke for God. He immediately cut to the point. As we would say back in my high school days, Haggai "don't take no mess!"

Haggai called the people out, right from the get-go. These were those who had returned from Persian exile back to Jerusalem. To rebuild the Temple. They just hadn't got around to it.

The people told Haggai "it wasn't time yet." They were too consumed with first building their own houses. They were constructing their own "paneled houses, while God's House lay in ruins."

The idea of living in anything less than Street of Dreams housing and Pinterest accommodations caused them discomfort. Thus, they were unwilling to prune away lesser things, in order to fulfill the reason they had been permitted to return in the first place. To rebuild the Temple.

Gardeners know pruning is necessary. Any plant will produce more buds than it can sustain. However, the root stock of any plant has only so much life and nutrients to give. Lesser things can suck life and nutrients away from what is potentially more important.

Necessary pruning goes after the healthy but not the best buds; the sick buds that won't get well; and the buds that are already dead. Remove what is superfluous. Release nutrients to the ones with best potential

Some people refuse to see the truth and value of pruning lesser distractions if it causes them discomfort.

Jack Warner was known by his employees as "Neutron Jack." He was the CEO of GE, back when GE was the most valuable company in the world. He would annually prune the business, to produce the highest and healthiest yield.

If a GE business couldn't be number 1 or 2 in marketshare, he would prune that GE business.

If any GE business was struggling (sick), he would fix it, close it or sell it.

If there was too much management bureaucracy, Warner would prune that too.

And...we would annually fire the bottom-producing 10% of the workforce. Talk about discomfort!

The people in Haggai's time got caught up in the "good" at the expense of the "best."  Thus, "it wasn't time yet" to fulfill their mission to rebuild God's House.

We all do this!

How often do we say to anyone listening, "As soon as I get ____________ done," or, "As soon as I get past _________ then I'll get around to doing what I know I should be doing"?

The people had missed out on one essential point. The rebuilt Temple represented the presence of God.

They were essentially saying they were enthusiastically willing to delay God's presence in order to enjoy their nice houses and fun toys.

But, they were expecting others to get to work on the Temple. Maybe they wanted to see that project get done. Just not if it required them to reprioritize their priorities themselves.

I include myself in what follows: We need to be willing to take on the discomfort of pruning lesser things from our lives. We need to be convinced to say "no" to some inviting things, in order to be devoted to participating in the life and mission of the church.

We need to stop expecting other people to do the work of the ministry, so we don't have to. We have to cease from expecting other people to give to the ministry, so we can just enjoy being in the jet stream of other people's generosity.

Many of us are content to continue being children, while hoping others will be the parents.

The presence of God is not found in a building. The presence of God is found in the church life and mission of God.

How sad any of us would enthusiastically settle for lesser things; to continue as self-indulgent children; to purposefully miss out on the presence of God.

-Mike Rydman, Lead Pastor, Radiant Church | Juneau