Nehemiah 3.10 NLT




'Next Jedaiah son of Harumaph repaired the wall across from his own house, and next to him was Hattush son of Hashabneiah.'




I vividly remember meeting a missionary for the first time. It was at a children’s mission in our local park and with huge excitement we were introduced to a real live missionary. He was everything that I was expecting. He had been serving God in the Amazon rain forest amongst a tribe whose language hadn’t yet been written down. He brought with him a long tube which was used by his new friends to blow poisoned darts at monkeys and other wild animals. Nothing surprised me. He had done an amazing job finding ways of telling these people that God loved them. It was clear to me that this is exactly what Jesus meant when he told his disciples to go to the ends of the earth.
If God has told you to go to the ends of the earth then that’s great and I hope you get on really well there. But that wasn’t all that Jesus said. Jesus told his disciples to start in Jerusalem. Most of us are not told to go to the ends of the earth, even if we think that we might prefer it there! Jesus tells us to start where we are. In Nehemiah’s account of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem he identified some people, like Jedaiah, whose task it was to repair the wall over the road from his house. For many people, the work that God wants them to do doesn’t involve a journey. Over the years as a minister, I have worked in a number of different places but many people I have known have, impressively, served God in one place and put down deep roots in that location. What matters is that we serve God with all our hearts, wherever we are placed. But we must never overlook the importance of home. When Jesus commanded his disciples to witness for him in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth, he was saying start where you are. It may be that, one day, God will call you to go on a long journey for him but today your starting point is your home, your community, your shop, your office or your factory.






QUESTION: Where is God calling you to serve him today?
PRAYER: Loving God, thank you that you have given us important work to do. Help us to do it with all our hearts. Amen

Released on 1 Aug 2021