Having More Of A Sincere Faith Than Most

Hananiah was a man of integrity and feared God more than most people do. - Nehemiah 7:2  

Reading in Nehemiah this morning I came across a phrase that "popped" out on the page. The Spirit's way of getting my attention I suppose. Nehemiah, as you know, was rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. He was near the point of securing the city and delegated responsibility for overseeing the managing of, what I will call, the municipal operations. He chose his brother and Hananiah. He picked Hananiah because the man had integrity and feared - or respected is a synonym for feared - God "more than most people do".

So that made me think about  - the first and second greatest commandments (Matthew 22:37-39) and the the story about the rich young ruler (Matthew 19). If you recall - the rich young ruler fulfilled the second commandment and staked his relationship with God and his eternal destination on it - but when challenged to sell everything he had and give it to the poor - he stumbled because he loved money more than God - and so he failed the first greatest commandment - loving God with your entire being. If you try to get to heaven by fulfilling the second commandment and not the first - it would be salvation by works and as you know - Ephesians 2 says it is by faith and not works lest anyone - like the rich young ruler - should boast.

So back to Hananiah. He was described as having integrity - the idea behind integrity is to be without flaw. That can describe a person who has moral integrity - or even a building that has structural integrity. You get the idea! So we might conclude that he was honest, loyal and trustworthy. Good traits for someone that you are going to delegate responsibility to. But there was also a spiritual component - he revered God more than most. I think that Nehemiah would have preferred to have someone that had 100% spiritual integrity - but had to settle for someone who "had more spiritual integrity than most". We don't know how much of his heart, soul, mind and strength were yielded to God - just that whatever the percentage was - it was more than most of the other people Nehemiah had to pick from. 

So what is the point. You may find someone who is an example of the second greatest commandment - with respect to their relationship and devotion to other people - but you will be hard pressed to find anyone who loves God the most - apart from Jesus. So long as we live in this sinful bodies we will struggle with our sinful nature. We might be in the "more than most" group - but our righteousness will always, only, be found in Jesus - not in us or by our effort. The best that can be said of any of us is that we feared - respected - God more than most. That like David - we had a repentant heart and a desire to please God.

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory.

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone