In the American church culture, being a Christian is almost synonymous with what I would call “conversational” theology. We discuss and argue about and pick apart our answers to “what would Jesus do” in almost every situation we encounter. It’s all very heady stuff, and while it’s good to study and know WHAT we believe, our passion will run dry if we stop short of knowing WHO we believe.

But being a follower of Jesus is practical theology. There’s not a lot of time to figure out what Jesus would do when you’re busy actually doing what He actually did. This seems much more typical of the life the disciples led while they tried to keep up with Jesus as He led them all over the place doing unexpected things in unexpected places with unexpected people.

I’d go so far as to say that the disciples probably said “huh?” a lot as they walked with Jesus. There were more questions than answers – and that drove them to trust Him more than to be taught by Him.

Christians discuss what Jesus said. Followers of Jesus do what Jesus said.

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Sometimes we need to obey before we understand. Wait, let me rephrase that: we’re called to ALWAYS obey even though we may not EVER understand. Followers of Jesus obey anyway.

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Followers of Jesus…

Go where He went.
Do what He did.
Say what He said.
See what He saw.
Love who He loved.

Christianity is easy.
Following Jesus isn’t.

But only one is worth your life because only one leads to life.

It’s time to stop being Christians and start being followers of Jesus.

Reading Time: 3 minutesNehemiah 3:14
The Dung Gate was repaired by Malkijah son of Recab, ruler of the district of Beth Hakkerem. He rebuilt it and put its doors and bolts and bars in place.

Quite honestly, it doesn’t take much to catch my attention. Holding my attention, though, is another matter. (I love the button that says “I have ADOS: Attention Deficit…Oooh! Shiny!”) Anyway, it can be quite a curse when reading the Bible, especially when I’m trapped in a chapter like Nehemiah 3 which is basically just a summary about who rebuilt what part of the wall. It’s long, repetitive, and, if I can say it without getting struck by lightning, somewhat boring. (Whew! Still here.)

But the verse above really caught my attention. I guess somehow seeing the word “dung” in the Bible has that effect on me. Apparantly this guy named Malkijah drew the short straw and got stuck fixing the Dung Gate. It made me wonder how that gate got it’s name. Surely it couldn’t be as obvious as it seemed! Turns out this wasn’t a place where people went to, well, you know, relieve themselves after a morning cup of joe. It wasn’t the local hangout and party place for all the dung beetles in Jerusalem. It was the gate where the trash was taken out of the city. It must have stunk and I would imagine the job might have been a bit unpleasant. And for all of his hard work on the smelliest part of the wall during the rebuilding process, ol’ Mal got THIRTY WORDS of press. That’s it! Other people got multiple verses, but not our “redeemer of the dung door.” Continue reading