You Are Needed
Good Morning,The next couple weeks I want to look at some great lessons from the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah had a vision to re-build the broken walls and gates of Jerusalem. They had been burned and destroyed over decades while the Jews were in bondage to others. There were three waves of people that journeyed back to their homeland over about a hundred-year period. Nehemiah finds himself near the end of that period serving the King. He bravely requests of the King that he be allowed to lead an effort to rebuild the walls of their home city.In chapter 3 we read a rather long account of all the people who came together to get this job done. It is an eclectic bunch to be sure. It is easy when coming to passages of scripture like this to skip over it, to get to the “good part”. The part where God does something cool or profound. If we do that in this case (as in most cases) we miss a powerful lesson about Kingdom laboring and legacy leaving.What we find is that the people were organized by groups and they worked side by side in what was an enormous task. Some worked together as families. Some according to a craft they excelled at (goldsmiths and perfume makers). Some by towns. Some by trades (merchants). Some by callings (Priests and Levites). Throughout chapter 3 we read the words “next to them”. In other words, their unity of spirit and purpose allowed them to undertake a task far too great for any one of them.We find that they completed the task in 52 days – a monumental accomplishment. And the truth is, nearly every single person whose name appears in this account, and the thousands that don’t, are mostly forgotten. Yet their story and their mark on history is still teaching us lessons today. We learn from them about overcoming adversity, living in transparency, sacrificing for a great cause and living in such a way that God is known. Their enemies were forced to acknowledge that God was at work.
When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God. Neh. 6:16.
We all want our life to matter. Most of us want to have an impact that is significant. And to be honest most of us want to see that impact realized in our lifetime. The lesson from the diverse group of Kingdom Laborers in Nehemiah is that it is quite possible the greatest impact of our legacy living will be felt long after we are gone. In looking primarily for fruit in this lifetime we may well miss the magnitude of what God will do far beyond our sightline. That perspective can help us press on when we want to throw in the towel.Will you be faithful to live on purpose today so the impact of your life can be felt for generations to come?Live this week on purpose,Ron Klopfenstein
