How Shall I Think?
This morning I finished up my reading of Nehemiah. I’ve read through the bible many times. Somehow, I only remember the Wall-Builder side of this guy. Did you know that he punched people and pulled their hair and cursed them? This was his method of dealing with those who were allowing their sons and daughters to be given in marriage to foreigners: something the law of Moses prohibited. I quickly concluded that this guy turned into a legalist in his later years and kind of lost focus, but I felt a twinge of uncertainty about making that judgement since his story is recorded without a condemning word from the Lord. I was ready to write off the last part of his life and move on, but I slowed myself instead and asked, “How shall I think Lord?” I heard, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and your neighbor as yourself. Love doesn’t always come out soft and fluffy. You yourself don’t often require tough love. Some do. It’s good to be careful about judging other believers whose methods differ from yours. Run in your own lane and leave them to me.”
I pondered His words. Honestly I’ve got some baggage from my childhood years with legalism that sets my senses on full-alert for any trace of such. The verse: “Judge not, lest in the same way you judge, you shall be judged…Mercy triumphs over judgement” came to mind. I couldn’t actually grasp a scenario where pulling hair and cursing someone could be considered a good, much less best, method for dealing with people, but I knew the Lord was calling me to think differently, so I asked for more help. “Tell me more Holy Spirit, I feel like I’m just on the verge of understanding.” These thoughts came to me. “Nehemiah lived it. From His grief and groanings before the Lord in the palace, to leading the re-build, to ignoring and defying the opposition, he led with all-in passion and zeal for the name of Yahweh. He lived it, and in so doing gained the respect to lead and govern the people.” I responded, “Lord, what would that look like for us, under the New Covenant, where your Spirit resides in us? There it’s not law, but consecration of the heart. What is it like to have the zeal and passion of Nehemiah in leading people today?” Then I began to understand.
If we could translate the passion and zeal of Nehemiah from Old Covenant to New, we would find ourselves in alignment with the two greatest commandments as defined by Jesus Himself: “Love the Lord Your God with all your heart and Soul and Mind and Love Your neighbor as yourself.” What Nehemiah did in bringing himself and God’s people into alignment with the Law of Moses, we are to do in bringing our ourselves and our spheres of influence under the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus (Rms 8:2). I see one passion in the life of Nehemiah that manifested itself in two notable pursuits worthy of imitating. His one passion was to “delight to revere [the Lord’s] name” (Neh1:11). Nehemiah recognized God’s faithfulness, the pricelessness of the covenant and personally owned the unfaithful response of the covenant people. He embraced the covenant promises of God and determined to fulfill his part, doing everything within his power to motivate others likewise. I propose that if we imitated Nehemiah’s passion, we would delight to see Jesus receive His full reward. That passion would ignite our motivation to embrace fully what the new covenant offers us and invest in the alignment of others’ hearts to receive it as well.
It's good to reserve judgement on the way another person in the faith lives out their journey with the Lord. It’s even better to submit our thoughts to the Lordship of Christ and seek His way of thinking about them. It could be the difference between living out a critical and judgmental existence and learning how to apply the strengths of another person’s journey to the calling on our own life.
Application Questions:
1) Am I filled with the Zeal of Nehemiah for the Reverence of the Lord’s Name?
2) Am I truly All-In? Is my heart surrendered completely? Do I crucify the desires of my flesh and choose to lay it all down for His agenda or do I build my own Kingdom/Path? Do I aggressively accept all that Jesus Paid for and use it?
3) Do I invest myself in the alignment of others’ hearts to Jesus? Am I so passionate about Jesus getting the reward He paid for that I am willing to aggressively invest in the surrendering of other people’s hearts to His cause?
