Considered Reliable

"And I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and as their assistant Hanan the son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, for they were considered reliable, and their duty was to distribute to their brothers."
- Nehemiah 13:13

When Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem after taking care of some business with the Babylonian King, he found that the work of the Lord was being neglected. It started when one of the leaders in charge of the chambers in the house of God had neglected to fulfill his responsibilities. In fact, he allowed one of his godless relatives to move into one of the chambers, where some of the treasury was kept. As a result, it appears that this contributed to the priests, who were supported through the treasury, being neglected. And because they were neglected, they returned to their fields in order to provide for themselves and their families. Now, if the priests where in the fields, who was taking care of the business of the temple, namely worshiping God and providing for the spiritual needs of God's people? Nobody! 

Today there's a similar neglect taking place in the house of God that is the church. Leaders are to busy catering to the needs of the consumer driven Christian. And as a result, have turned the house of God, where God is to be worshipped, and disciples are to be made, into a house of entertainment, a house of programs for the whole family, a house of activities, a house that promotes political parties, and in some cases even a haunted house for Halloween. 

There are believers, who are not consumer driven Christians, trying to do the work of the Lord, but far to often they are doing so many things, that they can't doing anything as well as they could. Why? Because let's be honest, we have too many other believers that come to church to be served, but have no real interest in becoming disciple makers. And we wonder why the church is becoming more and more irrelevant in our society. The average Christian is a consumer not a disciple maker looking to be used of God to bring change in the world. 

When Nehemiah got back to Jerusalem and saw all the neglect in the house of God, he became angry. Tobiah, who was allowed to set up a cozy apartment in the house of God, was evicted and his furniture was put on the street. Afterward, Nehemiah had the house of God cleansed. In addition, the bible says that he confronted the neglectful leaders, and appointed other leaders, who were considered reliable, to be responsible for distributing to the needs of the priests that served the Lord in His house. 

Similarly, if the church is going to make a difference in this world, we need to get back to focusing on the right things (disciple making not catering to the consumer, prayer and the word) for the right reason, (spreading the fame of Jesus), with the right leaders (those considered reliable and are looking out for the spiritual well being of others not their own selfish interests and egos). Does God see you as one of the reliable ones?