Selfishness?

Selfishness is one of the causes of spiritual drought, online devotional Crosswalk attributes this too. Selfishness is where it is focused on one’s own interests rather than the needs of others or of advancing the Kingdom of God.

Haggai 1:4-6, 9-11, it says,

“Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses while this house remains a ruin?”

⁵ Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. ⁶ You have planted much, but 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.”

“You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the LordAlmighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. ¹⁰ Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. ¹¹ I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”

The Word of God is speaking. This is for the believers. This is understandable and can be comprehended easily. The reason of shortage is merely looking just at one’s welfare. We know the moral rule that “it is better to give than to receive”. In these times of many catastrophes here and there, let us give our time, our resources to others. It may not necessarily be monetarily or materially, but intangible things do mean a lot these days. We can even advance the Kingdom of God by sharing the Word to others at this time.

Let us not be tied up with the materialistic ‘push’ and spirit of this world to failing to experience God’s wonders in our lives. Again, it may not be material things which God gives back to us for giving (and we’re not innocent of the teaching that we shouldn’t ask God for a return of what we have given for He “loves a cheerful giver”), but the joy in giving is priceless.  The verses above talk about the Israelites investing everything in themselves and their own homes, but not a thought was given to God’s house or God’s Kingdom work. Are we going to follow the Israelites to be unaware, unconscious, insensitive to His work, and just mind our own businesses?

Friend, if you want experience genuine joy in your life, make God your first, others second, and yourself third. It is like the old saying, “If you want joy, j-o-y, it’s Jesus, others, and then you.”

Source: www.crosswalk.com/devotionals