100 Days to a Healthier ChurchSample

Day 48 

Today’s Big Idea: Nehemiah demonstrates character and maintains his priorities. When you engage in a big project, it can be easy to lose sight of the big picture. Needs that are immediate and urgent seem more important than a mission that’s long-term and hard to see. In today’s passage, Nehemiah faced such a temptation and showed us how to face it with our priorities and character intact.

Key Verse: I never demanded the food allotted to the governor, because the demands were heavy on these people (Nehemiah 5:18).

Thoughts to Consider: This passage shows us one of the reasons God chose Nehemiah for this great task. It wasn’t just because Nehemiah had great leadership skills—although he did—but because he had such strong character. While the people were building the wall and preparing to defend themselves from outside attackers, there was a great evil being perpetrated from within. Because many of the workers were giving up their regular employment to work on the wall, they were mortgaging their land to borrow money to pay their daily bills. A group of their fellow countrymen were taking advantage of this by charging high interest rates, then foreclosing on them, even enslaving their children, when they couldn’t pay on time.

When Nehemiah heard about this, he was understandably incensed. He demanded that their families, land, and property be returned, and that the moneylenders stop charging interest on their loans. They agreed, and the work went forward. Then, Nehemiah made sure to let everyone know that he never behaved that way. In fact, he even gave up the extravagant food that was rightfully his so those in greater need could have it instead.

There will be times during this process when it will be tempting to ignore the needs of the people in order to complete the project. But we church leaders must always remember this: Our church people aren’t the raw material we use to complete the project. The people are the point of the project—people loving Jesus, loving each other, and sharing the good news. No wall, no church building, and no project is more important than that.