Good Fences make Good Neighbors

Photo copyright James T. Martin

Do you have a fence (or sometimes wish you did) between you and your neighbors? The poem “Mending Wall” written by Robert Frost in the 20^th century AD, states that “good fences make good neighbors.” This implies that sometimes a little separation can be a good thing when building relationships.

The Old Testament tells how in the 5^th century BC God called Nehemiah to mend a wall between Jerusalem and its neighbors. Without the wall, neighbors came and went as they pleased and the people living in the city had little protection. As you can imagine, most of the city lay in ruins without a way to control access.

Nehemiah answered God’s call and requested that the King of the Medo-Persian Empire grant him leave from his servant role in the palace. He desired to go to a city he had never seen before and build a wall. To fund this venture, Nehemiah requested resources from the king’s treasury. How many servants could make a request like this and expect to live? But the king liked Nehemiah and granted his request; he even made this layman the first governor of Judah.

The initial challenge for Nehemiah was to organize the people in and around the city to rebuild the walls and gates. Even though there was much opposition from neighbors, the task was completed in just 52 days. Nehemiah completed the task God asked him to do; so why didn’t he just return to the king and resume his position as a servant?

Nehemiah knew that building the wall was just the first step in what God desired him to do. He stayed for several years because the ultimate goal was to restore the relationship between the long-exiled people and their God and also prepare the way for Jesus to come. Now that the city was protected, commerce, worship, and other more normal tasks could resume. Essentially, Jerusalem was reborn after lying in ruins for over 100 years. All this occurred, thanks to Nehemiah taking the first key step of rebuilding the walls.

Has God called you to take a first step for Him? Is there something you can do to establish or restore a relationship between God and His people? Is there a wall that needs mending?

God called me, a layman, to write a book I titled “In the End… Jesus,” which explains Revelation and how it relates to end-time prophecy. After 3 years of research and study, the book is finally published. So now do I return to my former job, or do I follow through to the next task, like Nehemiah, to reach the ultimate goal God has established?

In my book, I describe Revelation as essentially a love letter of hope and encouragement from Jesus to His future bride. Few people read and understand Revelation because they don’t have the keys to translate the messages. They walk away scratching their heads like the people who heard Jesus teach the parables of hope and encouragement but did not comprehend them.

I want to share this love letter with everyone and help them understand what it means. In doing so hopefully many people will mend fences and establish, restore, or grow their relationship with Jesus. Isn’t that the ultimate goal? Perhaps after reading In the End… Jesus, you may mend the fence around your heart to enable your relationship to grow and prevent evil from entering in.

Writing this book was my first key step to answer God’s call but then placing it on the shelf to collect dust was not God’s ultimate plan. Like Nehemiah, I plan to take the next step of encouraging everyone to read and study this book and to start, resume, or enhance worshiping Jesus as Lord. Please check out my book and pass along this link to help me spread the Word.

www.InTheEndJesus.com by James T. Martin in paperback and eBook.