Setting – Israel signed a commitment and made an oath to God to take care of God’s temple
Content – Verse 1 (NLT) “The document was ratified and sealed with the following names”, which included Nehemiah, the priest, the Levites, and leaders. The people made an oath (v. 29 NLT) “now all heartily bound themselves with an oath. They vowed to accept the curse of God if they failed to obey the law of God as issued by his servant Moses. They solemnly promised to carefully follow all the commands, laws, and regulations of the LORD their Lord”. They also promised to take care of the temple (v. 39b NLT) “So we promise together not to neglect the Temple of our God.”
Application – The priest, the Levites and the leader’s names are written forever in the Bible. When we think about our commit to Christ, are we willing to have our names written forever for the whole world to see? And are we willing to make a comment like, (v. 29 NLT) “They vowed to accept the curse of God if they failed to obey the law of God as issued by his servant Moses”? The question is how seriously do we take our commitment with God? Are we willing to commit to taking care of God’s temple? One temple is our body (1 Cor. 3:16, NASB “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and {that} the Spirit of God dwells in you?”) and the other is the church, which is God’s people?
We (I) need to not take our commitment lightly. I need to daily remind myself of this commitment. God is endlessly patient with us, but that doesn’t grant us the right to shirk our commitment.
Content – Verse 1 (NLT) “The document was ratified and sealed with the following names”, which included Nehemiah, the priest, the Levites, and leaders. The people made an oath (v. 29 NLT) “now all heartily bound themselves with an oath. They vowed to accept the curse of God if they failed to obey the law of God as issued by his servant Moses. They solemnly promised to carefully follow all the commands, laws, and regulations of the LORD their Lord”. They also promised to take care of the temple (v. 39b NLT) “So we promise together not to neglect the Temple of our God.”
Application – The priest, the Levites and the leader’s names are written forever in the Bible. When we think about our commit to Christ, are we willing to have our names written forever for the whole world to see? And are we willing to make a comment like, (v. 29 NLT) “They vowed to accept the curse of God if they failed to obey the law of God as issued by his servant Moses”? The question is how seriously do we take our commitment with God? Are we willing to commit to taking care of God’s temple? One temple is our body (1 Cor. 3:16, NASB “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and {that} the Spirit of God dwells in you?”) and the other is the church, which is God’s people?
We (I) need to not take our commitment lightly. I need to daily remind myself of this commitment. God is endlessly patient with us, but that doesn’t grant us the right to shirk our commitment.
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