Ken avoided the migrant workers in his building. Their habits and way of life, so different from his, annoyed him. One day, however, while Ken was praying, a thought pierced him: They’ve been your neighbors for years, yet not once have you shared the gospel with them. Think carefully about your attitude towards them.

Scripture tells us of when God confronted the Israelites with a similar warning: “Give careful thought to your ways” (Haggai 1:7). After their captivity in Babylon, His people returned to Jerusalem, tasked to rebuild the temple. God had “moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia” (Ezra 1:1) to order the construction and provide funds (vv. 2-4). But after the people laid the foundation, opposition grew (4:1-5), so they neglected the project for fourteen years.

Through the prophet Haggai, God told them: “Give careful thought to your ways. . . . My house . . . remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house” (Haggai 1:7, 9). God was saying, “Think carefully about how you’re living. Are you doing what I want you to do?”

God disciplined His people (vv. 5-11), but when they resumed construction, He encouraged them: “I am with you . . . . Do not fear” (2:4-5). And the temple was completed in less than five years.

In what area of life do we need to “give careful thought to [our] ways”? Let’s ask God to show us and help us follow His correction.

On my desk is a memo board of reminders. Pinned on it is a list, “10 Habits for Great Health” that I cut out of a nutrition magazine years ago. Recently, I was stunned that even though I see this list every day, I could only remember four items. The list was such a familiar part of my daily surroundings that I’d glance at it without really seeing it or following what it said.

James describes something similar in the attitude of many believers toward the Scriptures: “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and . . . goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like” (James 1:23-24). Many followers of Christ are aware of what the Bible says. However, we may “merely listen to the word” (v. 22), but the extent to which we submit to it ends there. In this way, we deceive ourselves about the power and authority of Scripture, failing to see it as providing the “perfect law that gives [us] freedom” (v. 25).

James tells us to be “doers of the word” (v. 22 NASB). We’re to look “intently into” Scripture and to “[continue] in it” (v. 25), to keep doing “what it says” (v. 22). Obeying God should be not just something we do, but flow from who we are. By His strength, we can live out His Word in our world.

My niece, a college freshman, was busy with schoolwork and adjusting to a new residence. Because of recent security issues, her school required a vehicle pass. Since applying for this would be one more task on her long to-do list, I offered to do it. “Thanks!” she later said, surprised it had taken me only minutes in the campus office.

What she didn’t know was that the otherwise simple task had taken half a day of coordinating with the office, fixing a glitch in her application, and gathering unexpected documents. But I didn’t tell her this. “Anytime!” I said.

Love is in the details. Here, it was in taking care of details my niece was unaware of. Scripture tells us of God’s love as seen in two seemingly small details of the Israelites’ life in the wilderness: their clothes and shoes. Throughout forty years of walking, their “clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on [their] feet” (Deuteronomy 29:5). In fact, their feet didn’t even swell! (8:4).

God’s people had been unfaithful, but He showed “great compassion,” not abandoning them (Nehemiah 9:19). “They lacked nothing” (v. 21). God provided the “big” things, such as His presence, the counsel of His Spirit, and food and water (vv. 19-20); and the “smaller” but necessary things, such as clothes and shoes.  

God shows His love in ways we may overlook or be unaware of. Such is His love that He sees every detail of our life.

At least he passed, Jess thought, holding the test paper. He’d been helping his son with math, but with house chores and extra work from his boss lately, studying together had been tough. Discouraged, Jess thought of his wife, who’d passed away: Lisa, you’d know what to do. I’m not as good a keeper of the home as you were.

On a bigger scale, such discouragement may well have been what Zerubbabel felt. The governor of Judah had been called by God to lead the Israelites in rebuilding the temple after captivity in Babylon. When they’d laid the foundation, “many . . . who had seen the former temple, wept aloud” (Ezra 3:12). The memory of Solomon’s glorious temple lingered again now, as construction of a smaller structure resumed. Ours isn’t as good, everyone, including Zerubbabel, must’ve thought. 

“But now be strong, Zerubbabel,” God said, as He did to all involved: “I am with you . . . my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear” (Haggai 2:4-5). Zerubbabel could take heart in God’s guiding presence, bound by His covenant with them (v. 5). Also, “The glory of this present house will be greater,” God said (v. 9), pointing to when Jesus Himself would visit the temple (John 2:13-25). 

We may feel discouraged in a task God calls us to do, comparing our results with those of another season. Let’s focus on God’s plan for this season, because the work and its purpose are His, not our own.

The elderly man was taking a long time looking at the children’s backpacks in the store. He told me, “It’s my granddaughter’s birthday. I hope she likes my gift.” At the check out, he clutched a pink backpack with a cartoon character design. He looked excited.

Later in a restaurant, I saw him again with a little girl and her parents. When the child opened her gift, she said, “I don’t like this character! And I hate pink!” Her parents made her apologize, but she still complained. My heart broke for her grandpa.

I was reminded of how I sometimes respond to God’s gifts. I complain because I want something different, failing to see the miracle before me—that God Himself has lovingly given something for me. The Israelites behaved similarly. God had kept His promise to them: “I will rain down bread from heaven for you” (Exodus 16:4). God’s faithful provision in the wilderness was sure: “When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down” (Numbers 11:9).

 But instead of being thankful, the Israelites complained about God’s expression of loving provision: “We never see anything but this manna!” (v. 6). Instead of humbly requesting other food from God, they wailed over His gift.

I still remember the hurt look in the grandfather’s eyes that day. It made me think of how our heavenly Father must feel when we complain. Let’s be grateful for the gifts He’s given us.

During our church outreach in a nursing home, an elderly resident told me of how his daughter had driven him there years before and simply left him on the sidewalk. In his wheelchair, Ed couldn’t get up to run after her. She’d returned to the car without looking back and driven away. “We’re going to a nice hotel,” she’d said earlier. That day was the last time he saw her.

This clear case of abuse, vastly different from the many loving family experiences of eldercare, traumatized Ed. He still has nightmares about that day. 

Centuries ago, a young man also suffered trauma (Genesis 37:12-36). Joseph’s brothers threw him into a cistern and sold him to traders going to Egypt. But “the Lord was with Joseph” (39:2). In an unfamiliar land, as he courageously did what was right in God’s eyes, both in his master’s house (vv. 7-10) and in prison, Joseph realized that God “showed him his faithful love” (v. 21 nlt). Despite the trauma of his past, Joseph was able to succeed in whatever he did because God helped him (v. 23). Eventually, he became second-in-command to Pharaoh and raised a family of his own (41:41-52). Later, he even reconciled with his brothers (45:12-15).

People may hurt us, but God never will. Although He may help us heal in ways different from what He did for Joseph, He promises us His same faithful love. Let’s follow His leading as we trust Him to heal our hearts.

Pedro became a follower of Jesus at fifty. He’d been an angry, vindictive man who hurt those around him. As he received counseling from his church, he felt remorse over his past. “I now have less years ahead of me than behind me,” he said. “I want to live them well. But how?”

Pedro found his answer in an unlikely source─a genealogy. As he read Moses’ account of Adam’s family line, he noted that one sentence was repeated to describe Adam’s descendants: “ ‘Altogether, [name] lived a total of [number] years, and then he died” (see Genesis 5:8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 27, 31). But one man was described differently.”

Enoch was described as one who “walked faithfully with God” (vv. 22, 24). He drew near to God, and that’s how he spent his earthly life. Because of his faith, “he was commended as one who pleased God” (Hebrews 11:5). Enoch had a steadfast, abiding trust in who God was and what He’d do for those who sought Him (v. 6). He expressed his trust in the Almighty by acting on it and obeying Him, and his faith was such that God spared him from physical death (v. 5).         

“How can I live my years well?” Pedro asked. “By walking faithfully with God.”

Our earthly life doesn’t have to be summed up in just a number. It can be summed up in our faith, which allows God to work in more ways than we can count.

Andres, the owner of an electronics company, was giving employees with outstanding sales records a day trip to a beach resort. Andres was also taking his seven-year-old son Jimmy. Before departure, he excitedly held his dad’s hand as everyone boarded the van. “You’re joining us? How many sales have you made?” one employee jokingly asked Jimmy. “None!” he replied, motioning to his dad. “He’s letting me join!”

Jimmy didn’t have to work to earn his inclusion on the trip because his dad was paying his way. As believers in Jesus, we also don’t rely on our good works as the basis of our inclusion in Heaven. We’re granted access because of Jesus’ death and resurrection on our behalf. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), and Jesus’ own blood was the “payment,” releasing us from our debt to Him. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Ephesians 1:7). He opened the way for whoever believes in Him to “not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Jesus’ work and our trust in that work gives us a place with Him for eternity.

When we believe in Jesus as Savior, we become God’s children. Such is His “glorious grace, which he has freely given us” (Ephesians 1:6). Like Jimmy, we can look to our heavenly Father and say with confidence, “He’s letting me join!”

When my two nieces were younger, they’d coax me into a game after dinner. They’d turn off all the lights in the house, and we’d shuffle through the darkness, clutching each other and laughing. They enjoyed scaring themselves by choosing to walk in the dark, knowing they could turn on the light anytime.

In his letter to the early believers in Jesus, the apostle John talked about choosing to walk in a different kind of darkness. First John 1:6 refers to sin as “darkness.” Walking in darkness isn’t a momentary lapse, but a choice to keep engaging in wrongdoing. John reminds us that our holy God “is light” and “in him there is no darkness” (v. 5). So when we claim a relationship with Him yet willfully continue sinning, “we lie and do not live out the truth” (v. 6). Jesus, the light of the world, came so that “whoever follows [Him] will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

By God’s grace, after we’ve wandered in spiritual darkness and we turn to Him in repentance, we can walk in His light again—in His ways and purposes. He will “forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Only when we live in obedience to God can we enjoy the full blessing of relationship with Him and with other believers (v. 7).

Dante’s neighborhood in Manila was prone to flooding. On rainy days, the little boy reached school by crossing a makeshift wooden bridge put up by a neighbor. “Mr. Tomas helped the community get around,” Dante said. “He’d guide me on the bridge, shielding me from the rain.”

Years later, Dante joined a church north of Manila. Leo, his Bible study leader, mentored him. In a conversation about their childhoods, Dante discovered Leo was Mr. Tomas’ son! “There’s no such thing as coincidence,” Dante said. “God used the son of a man who’d blessed me to help me in my faith.”

A woman from the town of Shunem also experienced God’s providence. In faith, she’d followed the prophet Elisha’s advice, leaving home to avoid a famine (2 Kings 8:1-2). In doing so, she’d forfeited her claim to her house and land. Now, at the exact moment she was seeking help from the king about this matter, the king just happened to be talking with Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, about her.

Years earlier, Gehazi had seen the woman’s dead son raised to life. Now, Gehazi said, “This is the woman, my lord the king, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life” (v. 5). The king then “assigned an official to her case” (v. 6) and returned her property.

We’ll always experience God’s care especially when things may not go as we planned. Our sovereign God will help us.