Ruined Houses

My alarm rings at 5:00 in the morning. My hands anxiously search for the mobile phone all over the bed. I find it either under my pillow or under the bed. I thank the creator of the snooze button and go back to sleep. It rings again at 5:15 am and then at 5:30. From now on, it is no longer an alarm to my ears…. its music.

A loud bang rings… this time it is not the alarm, but my head, and I wake up with a start. I stare at the clock glaring at my face. It is 7:00 am; I’ll just have time to finish my morning routine. I jump out of the bed….

I mumble a careless prayer, that hardly lasts for 3 minutes and read my bible portion in a glance, and then I hurry my way to work.

I’m sitting on a bus and I can’t remember a thing…just what did I read today morning? ….no clue!! So, I take my bible from my bag to help me recollect. I try to memorize a few verses, so that I can meditate through the day. The chill breeze blows on my face…and puts me to sleep. With the bible in my hands, I close my eyes. I finally awake, when it’s just time to get off the bus.

My day is almost over, and I realized that I’ve exceeded my clock hours. I walk out of the building and am on the way to the bus stop. My ears are plugged with my ipod, blaring loudly my favorite Christian Rap. I suddenly realize that I don’t remember what I read in the Bible today morning.

After a rather unpleasant ordeal, I finally find a place to sit in the bus. My ipod is still plugged in my ears. I have every intention to take my bible and read, but my eyes are too tired. I had a stressful day after all. Besides, I need some diversion. I continue listening to Toby Mac. And when he sings, “I need some time with God, and a mental vacation”, I cringe in guilt. I promise myself to spend some quiet time with God the moment I reach home.

I am finally at home. I pounce at food. If you look at me eating dinner, you’d think I’ve been starving. While I am eating, I need some diversion. I browse through my facebook page, lazily looking at the photos of my friends. (My eyes are not tired now!!)

I’m done with food now, and every single cell in my body starts crying out in exhaustion. I need sleep. What about my quiet time? Hey, c’mon you can’t pray and listen to the Master’s voice when you are tired; you’ll doze off. Its better I get some sleep and postpone my quiet time for tomorrow morning.

I set the alarm for 5:00 am.

You don’t have to be a prophet to tell what would happen tomorrow.

There were people like me in Bible times too. People like me, who resolved to rebuild the temple of God, as soon as they returned to Jerusalem. They were determined to return to God his rightful place in their lives.

But shortly after their arrival in Jerusalem, things changed. They laid the foundations for the new temple. But the Persian king ordered the work on the temple to cease.

Later the barriers were lifted by another king. But even then, the people lapsed into spiritual lethargy. They were not idolaters, but they had lost their early passion for the worship of the living God.

And just like me, their excuse was, ‘The time has not yet come for the LORD’s house to be built.’ (Haggai 1:2)

While they didn’t have time to build God’s house, they had all the money and the resources, to build homes that rivaled that of the kings. And God asked them, “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house(God’s House) remains a ruin?” (Haggai 1:4 emphasis added)

God asked me this question too.

When we say that we are the temple of God. It does not stop with God just staying in us, sitting in our hearts and looking around. It means that God considers our lives to be a source of His comfort. He wants to confide with us. He has a heart that He wants to share. But we are usually caught up with our own priorities, building our own houses, decorating our own imagination, and living our own fantasy.

Today we do too many things at once. We’re running everyday, working against time and we’re infact not living, but racing our lives. Quiet times, have become a thing of the past. When we read the works of great men and women of God, we shrug and say, “They have no clue about life today”. To add to our slothfulness, we now have Christian leaders, proposing 2 minute devotions and quick prayers for busy people. Pitiful indeed.

God’s message to the Israelites was, “Consider your ways!” I guess, that’s the same message to us as well. Most of our habits and activities make no sense to God, and we’d slowly realize that all our preoccupations finally take us nowhere.

“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 1:6)

Today, we have many attractive man-made principles of faith. Principles that have the audacity to limit the powerful works of an awesome God to some repetitive utterances assumed to be “authority from God”. But our Savior proclaimed the only true principle central to our faith.

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33)

We don’t need quiet times to win God’s favor. God does not evaluate our lives by the lengths of our prayer or scripture reading portion. But He longs to make Himself known to us through these quiet times. Quiet times are for us to know God and understand His voice.

The more, I denied myself some time alone with God. The more I felt miserable. It was then that I realized, that spending some private time with God, enables me to see more of Him and less of myself in every situation that arises through the day.

Most of the times, we don’t move away from God because of some shameful sin. We just starve our hearts without Scripture and prayer and ruin God’s house. Spiritual lethargy is how we get separated. Consequently, the sweetest communion of all gets wrecked.

“Oh the pure delight, of a single hour

That before, thy throne I spend

When I kneel in prayer

And with thee my Lord,

I commune as friend in friend”

God did not reconcile with man, through His paramount sacrifice on the cross, so that He can manage to have 5 minutes in our busy schedule.

God sacrificed everything so that He can live in me and reach out through me.

Will my sacrifices be any harder?

Have we left His house in ruin ?