Bus #2: The Immediate

The book of Haggai presents another common "bus" that I get hit by time and time again. Haggai prophesied in a time when the Jews were finally allowed to return to their homeland after 70 years of captivity. One of the first duties upon returning was rebuilding the temple. This started well, but the Israelites became quickly distracted by their own homes, businesses, etc.

God calls them out: "Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?" (1:4)

The result of this mistake sounds very familiar:

"You have sown much, and bring in little,

You eat, but do not have enough;

You drink, but you are not filled with drink;

You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm;

And he who earns wages, 

Earns wages to put into a bag with holes." (1:6)

In other words, they became indifferent to God while focusing on their own agenda. John C. Maxwell, in his commentary on this chapter, puts it another way: "If you forget the ultimate, you will become a slave to the immediate." Obviously, based on verse six, the immediate does not pay all that well. And I feel like I've been there before, putting wages into a bag with holes, running around doing anything and everything to get ahead, accomplish great things, yet falling down exhausted at the end of the day, and never really getting anywhere. 

Basketball season is a common time for this. It's easy, what with the constant demands of the immediate (today's stats, practice schedule, game, scouting report, etc), to completely forget the ultimate. And when I get caught up in the immediate, all I want to do is win. I forget that I'm not there to build my own house, so to speak, but instead there to build up young people for the world and be a model of Christ-like behavior in all circumstances for them. Sometimes I do get to win and get all the rewards of winning. But after ten years, I know that the rewards of winning pale in comparison to the rewards of coaching with God's agenda in mind.

I have built great relationships with some of my players over the last decade, kids who I run into here and there (or on Facebook) and make me feel like I did something for them. I know I had the ultimate firmly in mind during those years. There are some seasons, however, where there are few of those relationships still left. It's clear where my mind, my heart, and my priorities were doing those seasons. And it's no wonder I felt like I was spinning my wheels, doing everything I could, with no results. I ate and drank but was not full, clothed but not warm, paid but not enough.

In Haggai comes one of God's most important commands for all people in all times: "Consider your ways!" (1:7). In your "busy season," whose house are you building?