Skip to main content

Inspecting the Walls


So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. And I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I did not tell anyone what my God was putting into my mind to do for Jerusalem and there was no animal with me except the animal on which I was riding. So I went out at night by the Valley Gate in the direction of the Dragon’s Well and on to the Refuse Gate, inspecting the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were consumed by fire.  Then I passed on to the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but there was no place for my mount to pass.  So I went up at night by the ravine and inspected the wall. Then I entered the Valley Gate again and returned.  The officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done; nor had I as yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials or the rest who did the work. (Nehemiah 2:11-15)

            As I look around, I have the sinking feeling that the condition of the United States is described in these verses. The walls have fallen down. The people who love the land mourn. The people who hate the land rejoice. Most either don't realize what is happening, or they are numb. What can they do? 
           Like Nehemiah, perhaps it is time for us to quietly inspect what remains. What needs to be done to repair that which will protect the people? What is it that will separate us from those who wish to do us harm? I believe the answer is the Church, not all the buildings where Christians congregate, but the people themselves. (I Peter 2:4-8)
            What do you know about the condition of the part of the wall that is your local congregation. I attend a reasonably large church. There are lots of ministries that I don't know anything about. I just know that the ministries are more numerous than most of us realize. I can't tell you what most of the people in my church do outside of church. For the most part, I don't have a clue which of them has been knocked out of place, hammered and burned until they cracked. Most of the time, they probably have no clue that I feel that way. I don't know what encourages or discourages them.
            I know there have been classes offered in which people take inventories to discover their gifts. After that, it seems to be up to us to volunteer. We aren't connected. At least, I'm not connected very securely. Perhaps now is the time for us to start applying the mortar of love between ourselves and the next person. I suspect we don't have long.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

              Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me . (John 14:6)           If “I am the gate of the sheep…I am the good shepherd” from chapter 10 is a double whammy, this verse is a triple whammy. And its first victim is the notion that any other so-called god was acceptable or the same as Jesus. He, and He alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to get to the Father. There is no other Savior, or Redeemer, according to Jesus. Now, to be fair, other religions will claim that their religion or god(s) are the only way. That is the nature of gods and of religions. If this and that are equally good and agree on what’s necessary, then this and that are the same thing, so there’s no need to from the other to one. If that’s the case, then why speak against the other or promote the one? There’s a song I’ve been listening to i...
Post a Comment
Read more