http://i799.photobucket.com/albums/yy280/ICAdoral/Born%20for%20this%20DEVOTIONAL%20banner_zpsngjdzfbm.jpg

 

 

Thursday May 12, 2016

 

I have been a Christian long enough to know that what God has done for us in the past will never be enough to prevent us from being dragged away by life’s currents. I have witnessed God healing the sick, I have seen Him save families, I know of people to whom He has spoken audibly, I have even witnessed some of these same miracles in my own life. When God shows up in this visible, palpable, and tangible way, the natural and immediate response is to surrender and commit our lives to Him. However, as I previously stated, I have been a Christian long enough to know that unless we establish reference points for our lives, the past will not be enough to keep our lives from drifting away from the commitment we once made with God. It is imperative that we establish reference points!

 

When Nehemiah and the people began the work of rebuilding the walls in Jerusalem, they had no idea just how many obstacles and challenges they were about to face. To begin with, nobody, including Nehemiah, had the talent or ability to rebuild those walls. Before Nehemiah’s arrival, for some one hundred and fifty years, others more talented had already attempted unsuccessfully to rebuild the city. If lack of talent was not enough of an obstacle, the leadership and the noblemen opposed the project. The surrounding neighbors threatened the workers with physical harm and attempted everything within their power to impede the work. However, fifty-two days later, the impossible was accomplished; the walls in Jerusalem were rebuilt. It was then that everyone including Nehemiah’s enemies recognized that God had shown up in a very powerful and tangible way and their reaction was to surrender, worship, and obey God.

 

Several weeks later, after reflecting on what God had done, they realized that it would not be enough to keep them from drifting away. They realized that the reason they found themselves in such a mess to begin with was due to them and their fathers drifting away. Therefore, they looked to God’s law, and perhaps for the first time, they began to understand that God’s laws were reference points to help keep them from drifting away. They decided then to establish three of the laws as reference points for their lives and they did so in the form of a written pact between them and God. The first law concerned their relationship with foreigners.

 

The Proper Relationship with Foreigners

 “We promise not to give our daughters in marriage to the peoples around us or take their daughters for our sons”. – Nehemiah 10:30 NIV

 

Nehemiah and the people understood that in order to keep their lives from drifting away, they needed to stop intermarrying. This had nothing to do with racism, or one group being superior to another. This had to do with keeping their lives anchored to God. They understood that intermarriage was one of the mayor causes for their downfall. The people knew that Solomon with all his wisdom brought upon himself destruction in his life because he married pagan women. Therefore, the people decided that this would become one of their reference points.

 

The same is true for us today; we are no better than anyone else is, but to keep our lives from drifting away, God wants us to establish proper relationships with non-believers. The basis for establishing these relationships should be to positively influence their lives. If you think about it, God established the people of Israel so that they could be a light to the other nations and not the other way around. If our goal when establishing relationships with non-believers is anything other than wanting to reflect God, then eventually, they will start to influence us instead of us influencing them and the result will be that we drifted away.