Rebuilding for the Future...Continued from page 2

They needed and we need to deal with the rubbish of adopting idealism rather than realism. Irrational fear says, “Things are so bad that there’s nothing we can do” and that leads to inaction. Irrational idealism says, “Things will be ok if we’ll just have faith, even if we don’t do anything.” If we aren’t careful, we’ll fail to deal with reality and instead attempt to live in fantasyland and if we do that, I suspect we won’t live happily ever after.

The people of Nehemiah’s time knew that they were threatened by enemies. Nehemiah told the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the LORD, who is great and awesome . . . ” (4:14). We need to hear those same words; we also need not to be afraid and to remember that the Lord is great and awesome and that, as the Bible affirms over and over, He will help His people.

But look at the rest of the statement that Nehemiah made to them: “ . . . and fight for your kin, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.” And Nehemiah organized the people to defend themselves. Irrational rationality says, “We can take care of ourselves without the Lord’s help.” Irrational idealism says, “The Lord will take care of us so we don’t need to do anything.” Faithful realism, which is what we need, says, “The Lord will take care of us so let’s do what we can do to deal with the situation as he would have us to do.”

We can implement our ministry plans if we rally together and stay vigilant (4:20).

Nehemiah told the leaders and the people, “The work is great and widely spread out, and we are separated far from one another on the wall. Rally to us wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet. Our God will fight for us” (4:20). Again we see the truth that we can trust the Lord to help us but we still need to do our part. The other truth we see is that, despite our individual ministries and separate concerns, we are finally all in this together. The people had their own work to do on various parts of the wall, but when a threat arose, they were to come together and fight together for their common cause.

God has given each one of us a calling and a responsibility for fulfilling our calling in his church and in his world. Moreover, he has given us the gifts and abilities to do what we are called to do and the responsibility to develop and exercise those gifts and abilities. Our church really needs for every one of to take our calling and responsibility seriously. It is important that we individually identify and exercise our gifts.

We must remember, though, that we are all in this together. The trumpet is blowing and it is time for all of us, young and old, male and female, long-time member and short-time member, bold and shy, out front person and behind the scenes person, to rally together. There is so much to do and there is so much that we can do if we will just do it together.