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9th May 2026
SaturdayReflection
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Rick Ezell
is the pastor of First Baptist Greer,
South Carolina.
"Putting First Things First -
Haggai"
The Book of Haggai, the second shortest in the Old Testament, communicates 'put first things first'.
It was written to people like us, who would say that God must be first.
But they had drifted away from this truth.
They lived with misplaced priorities.
Haggai was sent to help God's people get their priorities in line with what they knew they should be.
Haggai spoke his message to Jews who had returned to Jerusalem after living in captivity in Babylon.
As you recall, Babylon had destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple some 70 years earlier.
When the Jews returned from exile they faced the daunting task of rebuilding.
The first returnees made preliminary attempts to clear the debris and lay the foundation for a second temple.
Their Samaritan neighbours offered to join in the work, but the Jews refused them.
The Samaritans, in turn, threatened the workers and sent men to Persia to lobby against the Jews, bringing the work to a halt.
As years passed, slowly but surely, Jerusalem came to life again.
Homes were built, stores opened, commerce established, fields planted, crops harvested, and life began to resemble normalcy.
Israel, however, got used to life without the Temple.
The foundations were overgrown with weeds.
They stood as a mute reminder of the Jews' failure to take care of God's house.
Fourteen to 16 years passed, and then Haggai appeared on the scene with one prevailing message:
It's time to finish rebuilding the Temple.
It was a message of priority: Put first things first.
The Temple was the centre for worshiping God.
It represented the heart and soul of the Old Testament religion.
Although God is everywhere, the Temple was the place on earth where God dwelled in a special sense.
For the Temple to lie in ruins was to neglect the worship of God.
It was a testimony of misplaced priorities.
It was an embarrassment to God and a blemish on his reputation.
Haggai's message was blunt.
He pulled no punches and wasted no words.
Haggai spoke like a foreman on a construction project.
With a hardhat and tool belt, walking around the construction site, he bellowed out orders.
Found here are a few practical steps about putting first things first.
First, Haggai confronted excuses for the Temple lying in ruins.
"The LORD of Hosts says this: These people say: The time has not come for the house of the LORD to be rebuilt" (Haggai 1:2, HCSB).
They intended to build God's house, but just hadn't got around to it yet.
If you were to ask them about it, they would probably say, "I'm all for building the Temple.
It is a great cause. But God wants us to take care of our own families first.
Times are hard. Jobs are scarce. We need to pray about it some more.
We will eventually build it, but not now." They made excuses.
It is always easy to make excuses when you don't want to obey God.
We can always find rational justification for not doing what God wants us to do:
The time is not right. I've got family responsibilities.
My kids need me now.
When things settle down at work, then I can do something.
The first step to putting first things first is to admit our responsibility.
Closely aligned with excuse making is a selfish mindset that permeates everything.
Haggai challenged the people's selfish behaviour.
"The word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet:
Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your panelled houses, while this house lies in ruins?" (Haggai 1:34, HCSB).
Panelled houses can mean "covered" or "roofed," but the point was that it represented the finishing touches.
Their homes were not "in process."
No weeds were growing around their unfinished foundations.
Their homes were complete while the Temple remained non-existent.
What's wrong is to own a nice home while God's house lies in ruins.
What's wrong is spend all your money on selfish needs while ignoring the things of God.
What's wrong is to spend one's time, one's best hours, and one's talents on selfish pursuits while the things of God are left undone.
It is an indictment of misplaced priorities.
It is easy to drift away from God's agenda to our own.
It is easy to pursue selfish desires while ignoring God's.
In fact, it is the default mode of our lives.
If we give no thought to how we are living, we will naturally live for ourselves.
The bent of our hearts and is always toward selfishness.
This is what happened to the Jews Haggai addressed.
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This is an edited version.
The full article is avaiable on request
"Rick Ezell "
is the pastor of First Baptist Greer, South Carolina.
Rick has earned a Doctor of Ministry in Preaching from Northern Baptist Theological Seminary
and a Master of Theology in preaching from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Rick is a consultant, conference leader, communicator, and coach.
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