Share Life: 40 days of Prayer

Day 17 - March 12, 2007

Nehemiah 3:1-32

One could easily get lost in this passage, viewing it is nothing more than a boring list of names. But there are at least one thing that is important to see:

The picture one gets is that of different families focusing on different parts of the wall. This offers us a beautiful picture of the body of Christ. Knowing, of course, that a wall is only effective as protection if it fully circumscribes the city, it’s vital that each family play their part – that each person focuses on their calling. It’s easy to see that there’s no part of the wall that’s more important than another part. Thus it is with the human body, and with the body of Christ. That’s why Paul exhorts us to use the gifts we’ve been given, for it’s only as each of us steps into our callings, that the life of Christ becomes more fully visible.

This same text can be applied to our own personal growth in Christ, for each of us are being built up. The important question each of us must ask is; “To what extent does God have free reign to build in every area of our lives. There are some instances in (such as in 3:5) where the repairs are ‘not supported.’ Am I supportive of the building work God is doing in my life as he seeks to repair critical areas in my life?

Builder of all good things, grant that each of us would so live in communion with you that we are enabled to hear your voice, and in hearing yours, find our own. Then, having listened to your call, grant that we would have the grace to build, serve, teach, create, give, share, heal, as you enable. And as you continue to do the work of reconstructing our own hearts, may we be a people whose hearts are easily shaped, so that we can increasingly come to represent your life to one another and to the world. In Your Great Name we pray, amen.

posted by Richard Dahlstrom @ 11:22 AM