Good morning people who live differently than the world
Nehemiah 5:6-12 (NIV) When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very angry. I pondered them in my mind and then accused the nobles and officials. I told them, “You are charging your own people interest!” So I called together a large meeting to deal with them and said: “As far as possible, we have bought back our fellow Jews who were sold to the Gentiles. Now you are selling your own people, only for them to be sold back to us!” They kept quiet, because they could find nothing to say. So I continued, “What you are doing is not right. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our Gentile enemies? I and my brothers and my men are also lending the people money and grain. But let us stop charging interest! Give back to them immediately their fields, vineyards, olive groves and houses, and also the interest you are charging them—one percent of the money, grain, new wine and olive oil.” “We will give it back,” they said. “And we will not demand anything more from them. We will do as you say.” Then I summoned the priests and made the nobles and officials take an oath to do what they had promised.
We see in this story that the Jews were starting to treat each other as their old slave masters treated them when they were in exile. Nehemiah heard about this and was angry.
There is a parallel here for us in the Church today.
We are brothers and sisters in Christ and we are called to honour and value one another as Christ honours and values us. We must not treat each other or deal with each other as the world does. Taking Christians to court, slandering Christians, extorting Christians, laying burdens on Christians, taking advantage of Christians, disrespecting Christians, being unjust and unfair to Christians is unacceptable to God and it must be unacceptable to us. It must stop in the Body of Christ.
The most important question is not “Do you know what they have done to me?” but rather “What am I going to do in response to them?”
There is a godly way and a worldly way.
“Which will you choose?”