Spiritual Maintenance
And I said to them, “Do not let the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot; and while they stand guard, let them shut and bar the doors; and appoint guards from among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, one at his watch station and another in front of his own house.” Nehemiah 7:3
In Nehemiah 7, the walls of Jerusalem were all completed and the gaps were all repaired. Having restored the wall, Nehemiah was concerned that the succeeding generation would not treasure what the returning Jews had done and damage the walls again. It is always harder to maintain something than to obtain it. So Nehemiah immediately appointed his brother Hanani, and another man by the name of Hananiah to take charge, stand guard and keep watch over the city of Jerusalem.
When your car is broken down, you send it to the workshop, right? When it comes out of the workshop, it should be in tiptop condition. But you have to ensure proper maintenance thereafter. The engine oil has to be maintained, the braking fluid has to be sufficient, the tires need to have the right air pressure, etc. In other words, your vehicle must be regularly maintained to prevent another breakdown.
What is true for a car is also true for a church. There is a need for constant spiritual maintenance in a church. So very often, God sends a revival into a church and everything gets tuned up. People repent of their sins, relationships are reconciled, and the whole congregation gets filled with the Holy Spirit. The church is brought to the place where it’s ought to be. But because of the lack of maintenance, the fire from the revival dies and history soon repeats itself.
The church slides back into lukewarmness and complacency. The same is true for your individual life. You need to repair whatever moral gaps there are in your life. But once God has done an internal work of restoration, there has to be regular maintenance to ensure that you don’t slide back into those moral lapses again. Proverbs 4:18 says, “The path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.” The Christian walk is never static. You never stand still at a stationary spiritual experience. Rather, it is a path that you continually walk in. As such, you can’t live today based on yesterday’s light or revelation.
We all need to maintain our relationship with God. And this is a daily process. Our walk with the Lord needs to remain fresh. Our revelation of spiritual things should be current. We should have daily encounters with Jesus. Every day, we should be led by the Holy Spirit in everything that we do—no matter how mundane those things may seem to be.
Hey Pastor,
Great Word. I like the perspective…
I guess many understood that we need maintainance physically, mentally and spiritually but.. now with the way u put it… It sorta like emphasize how important it is to Maintain our relationship with God Daily.