…do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God. Nehemiah 13.14
I’m writing this Med in Britain a few miles away from churches built 700 years ago on sites that hosted Christian worship 700 years before that, which brings us back to Nehemiah. Are any of his walls still standing? The answer is yes and no. Earlier this century, archeologists uncovered sections 2,500 years after his prayer. That’s the “yes” part. But city walls only work if they keep the enemy out, and that’s the “no” part. Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged over 20 times, attacked over 50, and captured more than forty. Which brings us to your ministry.
Long after you’re a random dead pastor on a PowerPoint slide at your church’s anniversary dinner, the things you built for God will be living artifacts shining in his presence.
Take heart, it probably won’t get that bad, but tourists won’t take selfies at your church in a thousand years, either. So, will your work last? Yes and no. The husk will be cast into bins like so many old bulletins. But your faith and its fruit will never be wiped away, especially the fruit harvested generations after you’re gone. Long after you’re a random dead pastor on a PowerPoint slide at your church’s anniversary dinner, the things you built for God will be living artifacts shining in his presence. They will be, as they are now, sturdier, and more beautiful than anything you think you see, or fear you don’t, today.
