What Am I Willing To Give Up? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Nehemiah 11:1-2,

"Now the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem. The rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of every ten of them to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the remaining nine were to stay in their own towns. The people commended all who volunteered to live in Jerusalem."

When the Jews returned to their homeland and the temple, the city walls and gates had been rebuilt, it fulfilled one of the many steps the Lord was taking to prepare for the arrival of his Son, Jesus Christ, five centuries later. In addition to a reestablished Jerusalem with its temple, Roman roads would be built, Alexander the Great would establish Greek as the "lingua franca" of the day as well as other preparations were taken to set the stage for Israel's Messiah to bring God's kingdom to all mankind.

Reestablishing Jerusalem would take more than simply building a temple, re-instituting the temple worship, building up the city walls and repairing the gates. The city required a population. We read here that a tenth of all the people who had returned to the homeland and lived on their ancestral grounds were selected to repopulate Jerusalem. So they moved into the city, and all who volunteered to do so were "commended."

Sometimes the plans of God require us to give up something. For these returning Jews, it was to give up living on their own property in the various towns of Israel. The agenda of God disrupted their lives and there were those who volunteered for it.

Today God is building his kingdom in this age for the next. God has his agenda for the redemption of all mankind and he welcomes all who will embrace him in faith. The effort may require our own lives to be impacted to facilitate the building of God's kingdom. We might have to give up something if we wish to participate with the Lord in what he is doing in this age, just as the Jews did in Nehemiah's day.

What might that be for you and me? Are we willing to give our lives, are we willing to disrupt our lives, are we willing to let go of some of the things we have pursued in our lives in order to participate with God as he builds his kingdom?

I think it is a fair question to ask ourselves. After all, look at what God's Son gave up, look at how he was willing to be impacted so that you and I could join his kingdom and have a place at his table in the next age. "… have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!" Philippians 2:5-8.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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