Begin Again

Begin Again

Haggai 2: 13-19, ESV

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13 Then Haggai said, “If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?” The priests answered and said, “It does become unclean.” 14 Then Haggai answered and said, “So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, declares the Lord, and so with every work of their hands. And what they offer there is unclean. 15 Now then, consider from this day onward.[a] Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord, 16 how did you fare? When[b] one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. 17 I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, yet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord. 18 Consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider: 19 Is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from this day on I will bless you.”

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It is never too late to reset, refocus and restart. 

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We can begin again by:

1.    Confessing we have sinned by means of self-centered complacency – we need to clean our hands of the contamination of our selfish prioritization.   

2.    Acknowledging that many of our loses and set-backs may have been caused by external forces, but others have been have been a result of our treating GOD as an after-thought. 

3.    Realizing GOD’s mercy and love transcend our shortcomings – our efforts toward faithfulness can produce more blessings that we can imagine. Don’t be afraid to begin again!