Haggai - Laura

The Book of Haggai is about building houses.  It's about priorities.  God tells his people that he wants them to rebuild his house, the Temple, and to stop being so focused on building up their own houses.  He spends chapter 1 reminding them of this discrepancy; he even reminds them that the work they are doing isn't satisfying them (Haggai 1:6).  They need to check their priorities.  They need to see the bigger picture:  God's house is more important than my little house; God's kingdom is more important than the little kingdom I spend so much time trying to build.  Through the prophet Haggai, God is reminding his people that his kingdom is a big deal.  He chose them (2:23), he was with them (1:13 - so huge!!!), and he even went so far as to stir their hearts to motivate them to do what he was asking (1:14).  

God says: 

"I will shake the heavens and the earth.  I will overturn royal thrones and shatter the power of the foreign kingdoms."  And so he does.  

Peace,

Laura

Picture: "The Kingdom" by Laura Cottrell, pencil on paper

Jude - Laura

The book of Jude doesn’t get quoted all that often; it’s only a page long and some of it is fairly obtuse (see verse 9 about the archangel Michael disputing with the devil over the body of Moses…sometimes I’m surprised by what I find in the Bible! Isn’t God mysterious?!). However, the last section, entitled “Doxology” in my NIV, is epic. The word Doxology is a Greek word which literally means “glory word”. I think that’s a fitting title for Jude’s last section, which invokes God’s blessing on the reader in a powerful way. As you read this “glory word,” may the glory of God be spoken over you:

To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. (Jude 24-25)

Peace,
Laura
 
Photo: The Gloria Patri - Traditional Latin Doxology

Colossians – Laura

Paul knows about dying. He talks about dying a lot in his letters (Paul uses the words “death”, “die”, “died”, “dead”, and “crucified” almost 150 times in his letters!!!). He’s not trying to be morbid…he’s trying to follow Christ. Paul understands the intrinsic part that death plays in the life of the believer. Not only are we dying, physically, even as we live, but we are born spiritually dead. We must be made alive.  These forces of life and death are at work in us, even as we go about the very normal thing we think of as life. We tend to think that to live, we must go on breathing, talking, and walking around. But Paul knows that Real Life is so much more than that, in fact, it has nothing to do with physical life at all. “You died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:3-4) We think death is something that is coming, one day, hopefully not too soon. But Paul knows that life, as we have known it, is over… “having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.” (Colossians 2:12) We just can’t think about life the same way anymore. Life is over, death moves in, but only for a time. New life is coming!

Peace,
Laura

(Photo by Massimo Catarinella, some rights reserved)