Over the next few weeks in our Rooted in Christ Study, we’ll be looking at some of the favorite passages from our staff at St. Matthew’s UMC. These are some of the parts of the Bible to mean to most to our staff:

Today’s reading is Nehemiah 4: 14-20

This has always been a pretty cool passage to me.  In this passage, Nehemiah is rallying the people to fight for the wall that is being built around Jerusalem.  They will soon be under attack and he is motivating them to fight.  Notice what he says though.  He doesn’t say fight for God.  He doesn’t say fight for the Temple.  He doesn’t even say fight for the city.

What does he say?  Fight for your family.

There’s a lot there. Fight for your family.  Do you do that?  Do I do that?  Do we fight for our families?  Are our families our priority?  It’s hard.  Having a family is hard in today’s world. Raising kids is hard in today’s world.  We have to fight.  We can’t be passive.  We can’t sit idly by.  We have to fight for our families.

Do you do that?  Does your family know that they are worth fighting for?  Today, in a world that is hard and unforgiving, our families need us.  Let’s fight for them with all that we have.

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