When God Gets the Leftovers
There is a question worth sitting with today, one that is simple on the surface but surprisingly uncomfortable the longer you hold it: does the way you live actually reflect what you say matters most?
Most of us would not hesitate to say that God is the most important relationship in our lives. We believe in him. We want our children and grandchildren to know him. We want our communities to be changed by the gospel. These are genuine convictions. But there is a difference between believing something matters and organizing your life around it. And that gap, the space between what we say and how we live, is exactly where the ancient book of Haggai meets us today.
A Story That Sounds Familiar
The year is 520 BC. The people of Judah have returned from decades of exile in Babylon. Jerusalem had been devastated, Solomon's temple destroyed, and their entire way of life disrupted. Then, remarkably, King Cyrus of Persia allowed the Jewish exiles to return home. Families walked back into a land they had only heard about from parents and grandparents. They saw the ruins of the temple where generations before them had worshiped God. And they began to rebuild.
The altar was restored. The temple foundation was laid. There was real celebration.
Then opposition came. The work grew more difficult. And eventually, rebuilding stopped.
Years passed. People settled into their routines. They planted fields, built homes, started businesses, and raised families. Life moved forward, as it always does. And meanwhile, the temple remained unfinished.
God speaks through the prophet Haggai with a pointed question found in Haggai 1:4, asking whether it is the right time for his people to be living in their paneled, well-appointed homes while his house lies in ruins. The issue was not that they owned homes or provided for their families. Those things are not sinful. The problem was that their personal priorities had quietly displaced their shared responsibility to God. They had found time to rebuild their own lives, but God's house could wait.
How Drift Happens
Here is what makes this passage so relevant. Very few people intentionally decide to put God last. It almost never happens that way. Instead, it happens gradually, one busy week at a time.
We miss worship because we are exhausted. We stop serving because our calendar is too full. Prayer becomes something we squeeze in when we remember. Financial generosity toward God's work becomes whatever happens to be left over at the end of the month. And slowly, almost without noticing, God moves from the center of our lives to the margins.
Haggai 1:5 records God saying something worth pausing on. He tells his people to give careful thought to their ways. The Hebrew behind that phrase carries the idea of setting your heart upon your direction, examining your patterns, paying close attention to how you are actually living. And God repeats that same instruction in verse 7. When God repeats himself, it is worth paying attention.
What Our Priorities Reveal
Jesus addresses this same tension in Matthew 6:33, where he calls his followers to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. The word "first" is doing significant work in that sentence. It is not simply an encouragement to include God somewhere in the schedule. It is a call to an ordered life, one where our relationship with God shapes every other decision we make.
Consider how naturally we make room for the things we truly value. We say we do not have time until something we love demands it. We say we do not have money until something we want becomes available. Our priorities have a way of creating room for themselves. What we value eventually shows up in how we live.
Matthew 6:21 makes this plain, where Jesus teaches that wherever a person's treasure is, that is where the heart will be also. Our financial decisions, our time commitments, our energy and attention, these are not neutral. They are a map of what we actually believe matters.
A Shared Responsibility
In Nehemiah 10:39, the people of God make a striking covenant: they will not neglect the house of their God. What stands out is the language. Not "I" but "we." Not "my" but "our." The whole community accepts shared responsibility for the mission God has entrusted to them.
That kind of partnership is what a church family is meant to look like. It is a congregation saying together that they believe God is at work, and they are going to prioritize what he has called them to build. And what is being built is not primarily a building. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 3:16 that God's Spirit dwells among his people, and Ephesians 2 describes believers as being built together into a dwelling place for God. The mission is people, discipleship, families, neighbors, and the next generation being equipped to carry the faith forward.
Three Honest Questions
If you are willing to take Haggai's invitation seriously and give careful thought to your ways, consider examining three areas of your life.
First, your time. Look at your calendar honestly. Where does your time actually go? Are you intentionally making room for worship, prayer, service, and spiritual growth, or are you hoping those things will somehow fit between everything else?
Second, your talent. Scripture is clear in 1 Corinthians 12 that every member of the body matters. God has gifted every person for a purpose. When any part refuses to participate, the whole body loses something it cannot replace.
Third, your treasure. Generosity is not about giving identical amounts. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 8 that generosity is measured in relation to what someone has. The real question is whether we are willing to place what we have in God's hands and ask how it can become a blessing to someone else.
The Sentence Worth Carrying
Here is a thought worth bringing to the dinner table tonight: where your resources go reveals what you believe God is doing.
If you believe God is at work, changing lives, reaching families, and raising up a new generation of disciple makers, then that belief deserves more than the leftovers. It deserves first place.
Give careful thought to your ways. Examine your priorities. And make the same commitment God's people made so many years ago: we will not neglect the house of our God.
Most of us would not hesitate to say that God is the most important relationship in our lives. We believe in him. We want our children and grandchildren to know him. We want our communities to be changed by the gospel. These are genuine convictions. But there is a difference between believing something matters and organizing your life around it. And that gap, the space between what we say and how we live, is exactly where the ancient book of Haggai meets us today.
A Story That Sounds Familiar
The year is 520 BC. The people of Judah have returned from decades of exile in Babylon. Jerusalem had been devastated, Solomon's temple destroyed, and their entire way of life disrupted. Then, remarkably, King Cyrus of Persia allowed the Jewish exiles to return home. Families walked back into a land they had only heard about from parents and grandparents. They saw the ruins of the temple where generations before them had worshiped God. And they began to rebuild.
The altar was restored. The temple foundation was laid. There was real celebration.
Then opposition came. The work grew more difficult. And eventually, rebuilding stopped.
Years passed. People settled into their routines. They planted fields, built homes, started businesses, and raised families. Life moved forward, as it always does. And meanwhile, the temple remained unfinished.
God speaks through the prophet Haggai with a pointed question found in Haggai 1:4, asking whether it is the right time for his people to be living in their paneled, well-appointed homes while his house lies in ruins. The issue was not that they owned homes or provided for their families. Those things are not sinful. The problem was that their personal priorities had quietly displaced their shared responsibility to God. They had found time to rebuild their own lives, but God's house could wait.
How Drift Happens
Here is what makes this passage so relevant. Very few people intentionally decide to put God last. It almost never happens that way. Instead, it happens gradually, one busy week at a time.
We miss worship because we are exhausted. We stop serving because our calendar is too full. Prayer becomes something we squeeze in when we remember. Financial generosity toward God's work becomes whatever happens to be left over at the end of the month. And slowly, almost without noticing, God moves from the center of our lives to the margins.
Haggai 1:5 records God saying something worth pausing on. He tells his people to give careful thought to their ways. The Hebrew behind that phrase carries the idea of setting your heart upon your direction, examining your patterns, paying close attention to how you are actually living. And God repeats that same instruction in verse 7. When God repeats himself, it is worth paying attention.
What Our Priorities Reveal
Jesus addresses this same tension in Matthew 6:33, where he calls his followers to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. The word "first" is doing significant work in that sentence. It is not simply an encouragement to include God somewhere in the schedule. It is a call to an ordered life, one where our relationship with God shapes every other decision we make.
Consider how naturally we make room for the things we truly value. We say we do not have time until something we love demands it. We say we do not have money until something we want becomes available. Our priorities have a way of creating room for themselves. What we value eventually shows up in how we live.
Matthew 6:21 makes this plain, where Jesus teaches that wherever a person's treasure is, that is where the heart will be also. Our financial decisions, our time commitments, our energy and attention, these are not neutral. They are a map of what we actually believe matters.
A Shared Responsibility
In Nehemiah 10:39, the people of God make a striking covenant: they will not neglect the house of their God. What stands out is the language. Not "I" but "we." Not "my" but "our." The whole community accepts shared responsibility for the mission God has entrusted to them.
That kind of partnership is what a church family is meant to look like. It is a congregation saying together that they believe God is at work, and they are going to prioritize what he has called them to build. And what is being built is not primarily a building. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 3:16 that God's Spirit dwells among his people, and Ephesians 2 describes believers as being built together into a dwelling place for God. The mission is people, discipleship, families, neighbors, and the next generation being equipped to carry the faith forward.
Three Honest Questions
If you are willing to take Haggai's invitation seriously and give careful thought to your ways, consider examining three areas of your life.
First, your time. Look at your calendar honestly. Where does your time actually go? Are you intentionally making room for worship, prayer, service, and spiritual growth, or are you hoping those things will somehow fit between everything else?
Second, your talent. Scripture is clear in 1 Corinthians 12 that every member of the body matters. God has gifted every person for a purpose. When any part refuses to participate, the whole body loses something it cannot replace.
Third, your treasure. Generosity is not about giving identical amounts. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 8 that generosity is measured in relation to what someone has. The real question is whether we are willing to place what we have in God's hands and ask how it can become a blessing to someone else.
The Sentence Worth Carrying
Here is a thought worth bringing to the dinner table tonight: where your resources go reveals what you believe God is doing.
If you believe God is at work, changing lives, reaching families, and raising up a new generation of disciple makers, then that belief deserves more than the leftovers. It deserves first place.
Give careful thought to your ways. Examine your priorities. And make the same commitment God's people made so many years ago: we will not neglect the house of our God.
Recent
When God Gets the Leftovers
October 19th, 2026
The Spiritual Question Behind Generosity
October 13th, 2026
A Message From Your Core Leadership Team
October 7th, 2026
God Has the Whole World in His Hands. What Will We Do With Ours?
October 4th, 2026
What Does Your Life Actually Produce?
September 28th, 2026