Haggai 1:2-7 “Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD’s house should be built. Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste? Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.”

Matthew 6:19-21 “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

In Haggai’s day, God’s people were too interested in other things to finish God’s work. They claimed that it was not yet time to be faithful. They were busy making themselves comfortable instead of making God’s work complete. As a result, their hard work lacked results. It was as if they were trying to fill a bag with holes.

In this New Year and during the year of our nation’s semiquincentennial, where are we too interested in other things to finish God’s work? Where are we too busy making ourselves comfortable instead of making God’s work complete? Meanwhile, why should we wonder why our hard work lacks results? It’s as if we are trying to fill a bag with holes.

The Lord brackets Haggai 1:6 with the same admonition – “Consider your ways.” He would likely admonish us with the same. We have been busy seeking our own prosperity, our own security, and our own stability. Meanwhile, we have less prosperity, security, and stability than we had in the past. We have been filling a bag with holes.

PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS IN 2026 WOULD FOCUS ON GOD, HIS WAYS, HIS WILL, AND HIS WORKS. This year and always, we must carefully consider our ways, and align them with God’s ways. If we do, then we should see results instead of regrets.