Our first reading today is from the Prophet Haggai. The Lord had opened the doors for the rebuilding of his temple in Jerusalem. The exiles had returned. God opened the heart of King Darius. You would think that the people would jump at this chance. Uh…not so much. More in a sec. In the Gospel reading from Luke 9, we read about Herod’s curiosity about Jesus. If you recall, Herod was fascinated by John the Baptist. He had a similar fascination with Jesus. The Scripture tells us, “And he kept trying to see him.”
There is a phrase that is used twice in our first reading from Haggai. “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways!” After having returned to their homeland, the exiles were all good with building up their own houses. But they weren’t so fired up about building up the house of God. Thus the admonition from the Lord, “Consider your ways!” Be sure to read today’s reading to find out what the consequences were for the way that the people were conducting themselves.
Consider your ways! Don’t we need to hear and heed that message now and again? Sometimes we get so stuck in our ways that we do things rather automatically. And sometimes those things might be wrong. This is true in the temporal and, perhaps, spiritual life. So maybe today would be a good day to take stock. Step back and look at the way we’re conducting our lives. Are the things that we’re doing pleasing to God? What are some things that maybe you could tweak or change altogether?
Father, you know that we can be such creatures of habit. Help us today to consider our ways. Show us where we need to make changes so that our lives might be pleasing to you. Amen.
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