Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Consider your ways! Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the Lord. “You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?” declares the Lord of hosts, “Because of My house which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house.”

Haggai 1:7-9

For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?

Luke 14:28

We can measure success for ourselves in a lot of ways. One very practical way is to see how well our income matches up to our cost of living. A person who lives well within their means might be considered to be better off than a person with a higher income who has debt or wasteful spending eating away at their livelihood.

For Believers, that principle applies not only to our monetary stewardship but also to our time, attention and effort. The dedication we show to our work in the Lord reflects our priorities and our intentions!

When we squander away our time, attention and energy on things which are not of the Lord, we deprive ourselves of the manifold blessings of the Kingdom, if only we would seek them first.

Ethan Kirl

Originally Published October 23, 2020