Monday - Guard Your Holiness

Nehemiah 13:4-9 – And before this, Eliashib the priest, having the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God, was allied unto Tobiah: 5 And he had prepared for him a great chamber, where aforetime they laid the meat offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the corn, the new wine, and the oil, which was commanded to be given to the Levites, and the singers, and the porters; and the offerings of the priests. 6 But in all this time was not I at Jerusalem: for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon came I unto the king, and after certain days obtained I leave of the king: 7 And I came to Jerusalem, and understood of the evil that Eliashib did for Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. 8 And it grieved me sore: therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber. 9 Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers: and thither brought I again the vessels of the house of God, with the meat offering and the frankincense.

Romans 13:14 – "But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof."

Eliashib the priest didn't invite an army into the temple. He invited one man, Tobiah, into one room. That's all compromise ever needs: one exception, one open door, one thing you've learned to live with.

Nehemiah's response wasn't to manage it or make peace with it. He threw it out. Compromise doesn't get negotiated with, it gets removed.

Reflect:

-       Is there something you've made room for that doesn't belong, something you once resisted but now excuse

What would it look like to "cast it out" rather than manage it?