These two verses hold the answer…”the priests made repairs, each in front of his own house.” And, “I stationed some of the people…posting them by families“.
In a word, RESPONSIBILITY. We could talk about failure to take responsibility, even apart from a biblical perspective, but I will address this post to Christians.
By and large, we’re living in a nation with more debt than I even know how to write–the colossal reflection of individual greed…the “get it now, no matter what” syndrome.
Our children wanted it, so we bought it. We thought that was “a better life”. We let them play, oblivious to the debt we incurred trying to give them what their peers demanded. We should have been teaching them about their value and worth; instead we sent them off to be taught that their value is measured by the brands they wear, the cars they drive and the size of their house.
We should have been teaching them about taking responsibility for their actions; instead we let them live carelessly, and then did all we could to cover their tracks.
That generation is electing our President. They and their children want a socialist state–they don’t know any other life besides getting what they want at the smallest expense to themselves.
On a spiritual plane, Christian families have got to rebuild the wall in their homes. If we don’t fortify them, we will lose them.
We have to start by understanding God’s Word, and respecting it.
By showing the world why Christ used marriage to demonstrate His love for the church and stop proving Him an unfaithful Groom.
By taking responsibility–financially, behaviorally, physically– and teaching our children to do the same.
By embracing children as a blessing, instead of making a laughing stock out of those who do.
By knitting their hearts to ours–whatever the cost. For how else do we train them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord?
By preparing and preserving them for marriage–not allowing them to “test drive” until they find the used model they can live with…for now.
By offering the world something they don’t have.
What will it take? I don’t know…drastic measures though. Maybe getting rid of the television. Maybe homeschooling. Maybe scaling down houses and cars. Maybe radical lifestyle changes.
But can you hear Nehemiah’s voice:
“Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”
12 comments
I agree with you 100% on this one! You hit the nail right on the head! I believe, as Christians, we have let our lifestyles slide too much into the worldly sphere, even though the bible tells us NOT to be part of this world or to love what it has to offer. This is something my husband and I are working-on each day. It’s difficult to make radical changes when you are used to the status quo.
BTW, you always amaze me with your sense of godly inspiration and testimonies! May God continue to bless you so that others (who read your blog) may be blessed also (smiles)!
“On a spiritual plane, Christian families have got to rebuild the wall in their homes. If we don’t fortify them, we will lose them.”
When my children were born, one of my first thoughts was “I don’t want to lose them to the world.” However, I was told it was inevitable, and that broke my heart even more until God revealed that wasn’t in HIS plan.
And as you said, we have to knit their hearts to ours, WHATEVER THE COST… and sometimes that cost seems great when people are ridiculing you and picking apart your lifestyle.
If Christian families don’t take a stand, no one will. We’ve got to stop raising selfish “gimmegimme” children.
Interesting also in Nehemiah that debt was brought up and how angered Nehemiah was over that. Debt is rampant in our homes and in our churches. My husband and I feel very strongly about the debt issue. We now home church with several other families and our tithes go 100% to wall building not to a rock climbing wall for the youth group to play on. Geez, give me a brake. When trying to find a name for the new “youth wing” of our old church equipped with everything a kid could want (video game room, basketball court, coffee/cafe area, etc…) we suggested the name “Unsent Missionaries”!! Hehe!! That name was not chosen, by the way.
Kelly,
Thank you so much for your daily encouragement. You are a mentor to this young mother, and you have blessed me greatly.
One way our family is building the wall in front of our own home is to try to get our mortgage paid down as soon as possible. If we carry no debt, we are in a better position to help and serve and show the love of Christ to our community.
Ashley
As Mrs. Lady Sofia said, “You hit the nail on the head.” Taking responsibility is huge and so often overlooked in our culture.
Not only must we do this, we must train our children to do the same. What a priviledge we have to do this!
Just think! Every weakness we see in them (and in ourselves) is an opportunity for training and fortifying! We must not overlook them!
Yes Kelly this is right on.
I love this. I’m really feeling the need to make some major changes, and I’m praying God leads my dh in the specifics. Right now, we look an awful lot like the world. 🙁
What a great post. It is so true what you have said. DH and I got caught up in the want it now so buy it now mentality and we are now on our way out of the debt we created. It has taken some time, but slowly we are learning to put biblical wisdom into practice in all parts of our life.
There are some choices we have made that seem “crazy” to some people, even other christians. There are other areas we are still working on. I am just very grateful to God that he is opening our eyes while our children are still young to the truth of His word about Godly families.
This passage from Nehemiah really spoke to my heart. Our financial situation is much the like the rubble pile that seemed impossible to rebuild- we don’t know where to begin. We need to make major life changes but I’m running out of ideas. We already home school, have one older car, and we live in military housing (much cheaper in our area than civilian- plus no utilities).
I read your e-book finding financial freedom and I am trying to sell some things on craigslist to help us come up with the 1,000 savings to start with. Because of interest rates we end up making the same payments every month and never get ahead. Although I know that the credit card companies would possibly lower our rates if we simply refused to pay them for months while making headway on a different card with a lower rate, this bothers my conscience a little. We did agree to pay them, after all, and it is within our ability to make minimum payments although this prohibits us from ever getting ahead. What a quandary!
I realized, for the first time, as I read this passage that while I feel badly about our choices concerning money, I have never repented of the underlying issues that caused these problems- greed, poor planning, and a wrong focus.
Thanks for sharing. I will continue to think about this passage today.
Though I agree with your post I ask the question…What about Isaiah’s prediction of the end times and Revelation? The world will continue getting worse and worse and the Earth will be destroyed. I’m not saying “let’s not rebuild the wall” but I don’t think our nation will ever turn around to believe in God again because the Bible says it won’t. We just need to make sure our families are strong to fight the battle. Your thoughts?
Stephanie,
I am post-millenium–much different outlook on the end times. I think it will get better before it gets worse 😉
It won’t get better before it gets worse if Obama gets in. I have studied under some of the best Bible scholars. We are headed for some very terrible days. If people want to be ruled by Muslims why don’t they move to the Muslim nation. I for one like living in a free country and don’t want to be ruled by the Black Liberation Doctrine. It seems that God has sent us Sarah Palin to help us. We need to support her.