Day 149: Neh 11:18 - 13:19

Sometimes when I read passages like this, I get something regarding the entire passage and then other times, it's like there are just a couple of verses that really speak to me. In the first three verses of Nehemiah 13, I read something very interesting. After reading the Book of the Law, they realized that God banned anyone from the Moabite or Ammonite tribes to be in the congregation of God. And as soon as they read that, without regard to people's opinions, popular vote, or whether or not it was politically correct, they wen straight to work getting those people out of their congregation. Now I realize today that it doesn't matter what race a person is, God welcomes them in, but the basic concept of completely doing away with something that God disagrees with is largely non-existent in the church today. There are so many churches out there who read in the Bible that this is wrong or that is wrong and rather than simply removing the problem, they either ignore it, or they embrace it in the name of "tolerance" or "being progressive." God doesn't want a church that in which each and every person can feel comfortable in their sin. God wants us to be a church of integrity that commands change in the lives of those involved not so that they can fit some sort of predetermined mold, but so that they can truly live the kind of life that God intends for them to live. 

- Father, help me to grow a ministry of integrity and not one of "tolerance." Help me to remember that my goal on this earth is not to cuddle up and make people feel all warm and fuzzy, but my goal is to change my world and build up a neighborhood/city/state/nation of people who will serve the Lord regardless of what is going on around them! -