Moved to Action!

Nehemiah 2:1-3 

And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence. Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid, And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?

 
Division – Violence – Strife – Suffering: When we turn on the news, these are the words the would describe a lot of what is on the headlines. We hear of school shooting and turmoil in the government. There is a lot of good that is happening, but it is overshadowed many times by the dark issues of our time. It is easy to get despondent, overwhelmed and give into the tendency to just unplug. 
 
Nehemiah chose to allow the news of his friend to sink in rather than stick his head in the sand and ignore what was happening. He allowed it to break his heart and to move him to action. He didn’t just take the news, shed a tear and move on with his life – he chose to do something about it. He allowed the condition of his people to stir something deep inside him that would not let him just sit idly by. Nehemiah determined to go and rebuild those walls!
 
Are you broken over what is happening around you? When you hear of the violence in the inner city – do you simply shake your head and thank God that you don’t live in that environment? Or does the poverty, the drug abuse, the suicide and the violence break your heart for a people that God loved enough to go the cross and shed His precious blood for? The walls are broken down, the gates are consumed, the city lies in waste – What are you going to do about it?
 
This morning as we Refocus our hearts and minds on Christ we must determine not to stick our heads in the sand. In a world consumed by sin we must stand as beacons of hope as we take the Love of Christ to the uttermost – the outermost! Allow what you see around you to move you to action!