Inspecting Your Walls
As I have mentioned before, we are studying Nehemiah in the Sunday school class my wife and I are attending. This week a very interesting idea came up. We are in chapter 2 where Nehemiah goes out to inspect the walls of Jerusalem before starting to rebuild them. He doesn’t do this as a parade in front of the rest of the city, instead it is done secretively in the middle of the night. We can assume based on what we learned about Nehemiah’s character earlier in the book that he is probably spending this time praying and planning.
Now for the interesting idea. Just as Nehemiah inspected the physical walls of Jerusalem we need to inspect the walls of our life. What does this mean or look like? The walls of a city were intended to protect it. It kept out certain people. It made sure the people were safe inside. If there were holes in the wall it left the people vulnerable to attack. In the same way we have spiritual walls to maintain. We were challenged by our teacher to take three hours this week to do a detailed inspection of our walls close up and at a distance.
The first question to answer is, what makes up your wall? Here are several things we discussed on Sunday that will give you a good starting point.
- Finances
- Time
- Relationships
- Outside influences
There are many other things that make up our wall but these are the main ones. If you have any to add, please leave a comment.
Next, how do you do this? I would suggest going somewhere to get away, where there is nothing to distract you. Bring something to write with(if writing helps you as much as it does me) and as you pray and listen write things down. Look at your calendar to see how you spend your time. Bring your checkbook along and find out where your money is going. Seriously consider the relationships in your life. Are they in line with what you believe? Inspect the outside influences on your life such as what you watch on tv and in movies, what you listen to in music, what you read in books, what you do on the computer, and what people you surround yourself with.
Finally, why should you do this? Our lives go by at such a fast pace that I sometimes find it hard to fit in the things of God. Our lives make sure that we always have something we could be doing. We need to slow down for a little while, take a deep breath, take a step back, and see what our lives really look like. Do they reflect Jesus?
Brian
