Busy with His Own House
January 14, 2008
Dear Friends,
According to the National Association of Home Builders, the average house size in the US has more than doubled in size since the 1950s. The rapid increase in home size coupled with cramming cookie cutter houses into small neighborhoods has even spawned a new nickname – McMansions. In the new book, House Lust: America’s Obsession with Our Homes by Daniel McGinn, he writes that American’s will spend $170 billion remodeling their homes this year. This obsession with bigger and better housing is greatly impacting the US economy because so many have purchased these huge homes with ill-advised subprime mortgages and now can’t make the payments. The resulting foreclosures are bankrupting companies and sending a massive ripple effect across the globe.
Man is a creature driven by lust. When he is homeless, he simply wants shelter from the elements. When he has shelter, he wants amenities like in-door plumbing and different rooms for various activities such as sleeping and cooking. His lust is not satisfied though because next he wants a bigger house and nice stuff-n-things to put in it. Astoundingly, his desires are not satisfied even when he has his own McMansion with manicured lawn and the massive McMortgage to go along with it.
Writing about 2500 years ago, the prophet Haggai observed similar behavior from the men of Judah. He said:
This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the LORD. “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the LORD Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. (Haggai 1:7-9 NIV)
We are odd beings. When asked, we say we put God first, family second and work third. Our house doesn’t even make the top three. Yet, we seem to find time to cut our grass each week in season, but can’t make time to read our Bibles or attend a weekly Bible class. We make those large mortgage payments on time, but can’t seem to find the financial wherewithal to tithe. We rush to fix a leak in our homes or trim our hedges, but can’t be found on ecclesial work days. We think nothing of making improvements to our homes that cost thousands but deliberate endlessly on preaching or welfare projects that cost hundreds.
The principle of the firstfruits in Scripture was that we are to give the Lord the first and best of what we have. When the children of Israel harvested their food, they had to give God the first of the harvest, not what was left over. Certainly God has reciprocated in kind by giving us His very best when He gave us His son in so dramatic a fashion. Likewise, we need to give the Lord the best of our time, effort and money; but are we doing it? Are we too busy with our own house to work on the Lord’s?
When Haggai delivered his message to the people of Judah, they wisely responded immediately and drastically. Haggai reports “the people feared the Lord” and “began to work on the house of the LORD Almighty, their God.”
Give careful thought to your ways, brethren.
Have a great week,
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