A Wall with a View

“…they hung its doors with its bolts and bars and repaired a thousand cubits of the wall.” Nehemiah 3:14.

Nehemiah 3 is all about the different repairs that the people of God were making on the wall surrounding the city that had been burned, attacked and dismantled. Different families had settled around the different broken parts of the wall. Each extended family group would attend to their part of the wall that needed rebuilding. The work was certainly varied but one thing was constant…all the gates had to be refashioned and the doors re-hung with bolts and bars. The wall surrounding the gate would have had to have been repaired for the gates to work. ‘Just as the Jews were called to guard their city, so we are called to guard our hearts.’ Kelly Minter – The Faithful, p. 56.

I love the question Kelly posed in The Faithful this morning. She asked in building the wall of our lives as Christians, which gates in our hearts and minds need reinforcing? I immediately thought of a few gates which I needed to pound bolts and bars in to keep me protected. I need the gate in place and locked that prevents me from pursuing the approval of others. I need constant rehinging of the gate that is a deterrent from judging others. Sometimes I pull at the gate of wishing I had something someone else has.

What good is our wall without the protection of the gates? What good is our faith when we allow all the gates to swing wide open allowing everything in? The wall of our mind will be compromised by the choices we make…watching programs/movies that litter our minds… thinking jealous thoughts about others…self-talk that tears us down. The wall of our hearts will be compromised by the emotions we allow to enter…bitterness…anger…pride. Our gates must be in constant repair using the bolts of the Word and the pegs of prayer. The wall is very important, but the gates are essential in keeping out the things that compromise our lives. When our gates are hung with the spiritual things we can take our place on the wall and enjoy the view of the horizon.

"...seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth." Co 3:1-2