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Song: Oh, The Things We May Do
Scripture: Nehemiah 5:1-13
How sad it is when behavior that characterizes the world and the worldly-minded invades the family of God. It’s true that the people of God are people. But people are made in God’s image. And those people who are destined to populate heaven ought to have their affections set on still higher principles. We ought to behave differently.
Many of the people who returned to Jerusalem in Nehemiah’s day came out of slavery. They came with nothing. They found nothing when they came. The difficulty of raising a city from the ashes reduced many of them to still deeper poverty. Some of the Jews who were in better straits than their contemporaries offered assistance but with interest. They did nothing uncommon by worldly standards, and thus the problem. The kinship of believers and their brethren is uncommon.
“Do good to all,” said Paul, “especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10). How do you treat your brethren in the Lord? Do you treat them differently? Do you show them more courtesy, more warmth, more genuine affection? Do you have more time for them, more patience with them, more sympathy for their circumstances?
“The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ But not so among you” (Luke 22:25-26). Let it not be so among us.
Jason Moore
