Careful thought

I pray you will join me in reading through God's Word in 2008. I will be using the One Year Bible plan. You can find a copy of it at http://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/

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Christmas time is a time of plenty. There is plentiful food. There is plentiful to do. There is plentiful consumerism. And plentiful anxiety!

Christmas time is an important time to guard our relationship with Jesus. Even though this holiday is all about him, it is so easy to neglect our time, our thought, and our worship of him. In all the busyness Jesus sometimes get lost.

As I come to the end of my 2007 reading plan of God's Word, I spent some time in the book of Haggai this morning. It is a short book, only two chapters long.

In the book of Haggai, God’s people have returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the city and the temple after it had been destroyed by the Babylonians. The problem was that they spent most of their time building their own homes rather than the house of God.

Haggai writes: Now this is what the Lord Almighty say: “give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” Haggai 1:5-6

They had spent all their time, money, and effort on themselves – but it failed to satisfy them. Without making Jesus part of our Christmas, it will fail to satisfy us. Without Jesus we will plant much, but harvest little. What that means is a lot of work with little reward.

Give careful thought to your ways. Take some time to build up your house, but do not neglect the house of God. Take some time to share your gifts and love with others, but do not neglect giving God the precious gift of your time and your devotion.

Have a great Christmas,
Pastor Phil Ressler

Just a reminder: There is only one worship service this Sunday at 9:30 (no Sunday School).

Christmas Eve Worship is at 5, 7, and 11pm.
Christmas Day Worship is at 9:30am.

Hope to see you there and don’t forget to invite a friend.