Prayer requests

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. (Acts 2:42)

I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favorably received by the Lord’s people there, so that I may come to you with joy, by God’s will, and in your company be refreshed. The God of peace be with you all. Amen. (Romans 15:30-33)

Each time that we pause here on the study blog to pray, and to share prayer requests, I'm reminded again of what a precious privilege we have here. Many people who live in authoritarian countries are not afforded this privilege; sharing their faith right out in the open is not allowed and is downright dangerous there. That they would identify themselves as believers and ask one another to pray would be risky -- but many of them are courageous and stand up to be counted as faithful members of the body of Christ.

Just as there are many character types of people, many learning styles, many languages and accents; so are there many different ways to pray. Praying together opens up our hearts to the needs of others. It can bring encouragement, repentance, joy, and love, and it also shows unity - the body of Christ working together for His kingdom. Often, people might be nervous about praying aloud in a group; at the same time, many of us find that our minds wander when we pray silently.

An alternative is to write down our prayers. Don't worry about the spelling. Don't stress about the grammar. Just write down what comes from your heart. Are we praying for someone in particular? Write down that name. Are we praying for a missionary who is struggling against the devil? Are they in financial need? Are there worries about his or her safety? Write all of that down. If a map is available that shows where the missionary is serving, have it handy and lay a hand on it while praying. Do we have requests of a personal nature? We can write down the desires of our own hearts.

Now.

We can reread our prayers. Silently or aloud. 

Consider some of our familiar verses regarding prayer, including this one in James:

The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. (James 5:16b, NIV)

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (KJV)

Lastly, if our prayers can be separated (and by that I mean that we can share just what is relevant to a person that we prayed for - not something personal about another individual) and shared with those we prayed for, it may be that they find encouragement in reading. It may lift them up in the midst of some pretty rough times; after all, how much more comfort would it provide to actually read a prayer that someone prayed for us, than to just hear the phrase, "I prayed for you." Of course, we mean it sincerely. And we follow up on it by praying. But reading what we prayed may be just what someone needs to know that a sister in Christ is lifting them up to Jesus. That our hearts are concerned and we are asking Him for intercession and help.

This isn't something that everyone would be comfortable with. It's not mandatory. It's just my humble opinion. I believe even if we don't share our prayers with others, that writing them down may be just the ticket to keep our minds focused in our prayer times! It can also be very meaningful if we keep them, tuck them into a journal, and read them in the future -- then we will see that our Father answered our prayers, just as He promised!

Permissiveness in stewardship of time

Happy Monday!

Or, are we like Garfield, and open one eye to look about and pull the blanket back over our heads? Mutter about how we dislike Mondays?

Personally, I LOVE Mondays!

I am a list person. I love to have lists of tasks and I love the process of doing those tasks and then lining through them as they are completed. I love a new day to work on my lists. 

That's just the kind of silly squirrel that I am. (Grin)

I do think, though, that we all can look at a fresh, new week stretching out before us and take heart! Creep out from under that blanket! We have another opportunity to do some of the things we have been wanting to do. Make some positive changes. Keep some promises.

Sounds good, right?

We can do it. It just takes some good time management.

Make a plan.

The people in the city of Jerusalem and the surrounding regions had made a plan. And it had to do with using their time correctly.

Remember in chapter ten?

“When the neighboring peoples bring merchandise or grain to sell on the Sabbath, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on any holy day. Every seventh year we will forgo working the land and will cancel all debts." (Nehemiah 10:31)

Even though the people had agreed in their covenant with God that they would keep the Sabbath holy, they quickly slid down the slippery slope and began doing business on that day. They had really meant what they said. They'd been sincere. But it happened:

In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs and all other kinds of loads. And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Therefore I warned them against selling food on that day. 16 People from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath to the people of Judah. (Nehemiah 13:15-16)

It may be that the immigrants from Tyre that are mentioned in verse sixteen were the catalyst for this slide . . . the city of Tyre had a vast seaport, and the entire Phoenician economy was developed on the procurement and exchange of goods that was made possible by that port. The Phoenicians were known as seafaring merchants and traders -- they bartered or sold just about anything they could get their hands on. They traded huge quantities of wood, weapons, precious stones, cloth, and dye. Remember the purple dye that we talked about when we studied Lydia in the New Testament?  Remember that costly purple powder made from the snails? The Phoenicians manufactured the dye and were even known as the "Purple People" or "People of Purple." The merchants mentioned in verse sixteen were importing fish and all types of merchandise. They obviously would have no scruples about the Sabbath, so they were doing a brisk business!

I can hear the excuses now . . . "Everyone else is doing business with them." "All those imported fish will go to waste if we don't buy them and eat them." 

That would have morphed into . . . "If I don't open on Sunday like the merchants from Tyre, I will go out of business! So I must load my donkey with grain and figs, and take them into the city." And, "If I don't tread my grapes, they will rot! Wasteful!" 

Those probably sounded like really good reasons to push aside one's conscience, whispering about the covenant that one was breaking. Ignore that little voice that's telling us to keep our shop closed on the Sabbath. To leave that donkey alone; don't load it with foods and go to the city, making it "just another day."

After all, those Sabbath rules are so restrictive. There are so many things we can't do. I just looked at the list again yesterday -- there are thirty-nine things I can't do! No sowing, plowing, reaping, threshing, grinding, sifting, or baking. No spinning or weaving, tying or untying, or even kindling a fire! 

I know, I know, I remember way back when we made the covenant. I remember the rabbi's words, I really do! He said that we could go to the temple, visit family and friends, sing, read, study and discuss the Torah . . . anything that enhanced the joy, rest, and holiness of the day.

Yes, I know that the word means "sit" or "period of rest" or "ceasing" (activities). 

But surely God will understand that I CAN'T rest today; I must put my business first. 

Really.

I must.

I suppose I could have worked harder on the other days of the week.  I did take a break or two to talk to the other shop keepers and probably missed some sales because of that. And I did sleep late yesterday, so I missed several hours of shop time. 

And that is one way that compromise can creep in. We justify the things we want to do. We put our fingers in our ears, so to speak, and don't listen to our conscience.

And don't we act like this, sometimes? No, we are not under the strict Sabbath laws of Israel. But just like these Jewish people, it's easy to make excuses about permissiveness in using our time. It's easy to make up excuses, and to put business or pleasure ahead of worship. 

"I really want to spend time with God every day, but I work such long hours. When I get home, I'm exhausted. I just can't focus on reading my Bible."

"I do want to focus more on prayer time, but there are so many things to do in a twenty-four hour day. I just can't find the time."

"I guess we can enjoy the outdoors and that can be our worship time. It takes so much time to get dressed and get to church, and then get home after service. We'll be thanking God for His blessings as we boat on the lake."

On the other hand, if instead of being spiritually permissive, we are good stewards, then we will plan thoughtfully so that we give priority to time with the Lord. We will set aside time for prayer and Bible study. We'll get some things done or delegate them if possible, so that we can get alone with God and pray. We'll turn off the television and read our Bible. 

We need to be good stewards of the time that God blesses us with. Spiritual permissiveness will affect how we spend our time. Let's be determined that we will not compromise; let's make good use of our time, and set our priorities on things of God.

Friday slowdown

Recently, I have spoken and corresponded with so many who need God's hand of healing on their bodies, their minds, or their spirits. I hope this song will be uplifting and encouraging.

Our Savior is indeed a chain breaker, a healer, and our redeemer!

Nehemiah found financial problems

We are talking about permissiveness, or compromise, that can creep into our lives and that Nehemiah found on his return to Jerusalem. He'd been to Persia and came back to find some issues that needed to be addressed. We looked yesterday at matters of compromise in our faith - we saw that the people of Israel had accepted the actions of the priest in allowing Tobiah to set up housekeeping in the temple.
Actions have consequences, no?
Yes!
This second issue was connected to the first one . . .
Since the high priest had moved Tobiah into the temple, there was not enough room for the people's offerings and tithes.
This set off a chain reaction that is described in our chapter. Here is the catalyst:

Before this, Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God. He was closely associated with Tobiah, 5 and he had provided him with a large room formerly used to  store the grain offerings and incense and temple articles, and also the tithes of grain, new wine and olive oil prescribed for the Levites, musicians and gatekeepers, as well as the contributions for the priests. (Nehemiah 13:4-5)

Now, Tobiah more than likely had a wife, so they would have needed to have a kitchen area set up, not just Tobiah's couch and recliner. She may have been a cook of some renown, so kitchen utensils and serving items would have been required. All of these things take up room.
If young kids were still part of the family, they would have needed places to sleep, places to store their musical instruments for their lessons, places to study their assignments, etc, etc. Maybe all of this is why the other verse mentions another room being given over to Tobiah, as well.

The chain of reaction continues: there is not enough room now for the offerings and the tithes. If we look back at chapter twelve, we remember there was a system for taking care of those who ministered within the temple:

At that time men were appointed to be in charge of the storerooms for the contributions, firstfruits and tithes. From the fields around the towns they were to bring into the storerooms the portions required by the Law for the priests and the Levites, for Judah was pleased with the ministering priests and Levites. . . So in the days of Zerubbabel and of Nehemiah, all Israel contributed the daily portions for the musicians and the gatekeepers. They also set aside the portion for the other Levites, and the Levites set aside the portion for the descendants of Aaron. (Nehemiah 12:44,47)

Here's the next step in the slide of finances: since there were not enough storerooms for the tithes, the priests simply told the people they were not required to bring in the tithes. No storage room? Just don't bring in the first fruits, the offerings, or even the tithes to take care of the helpless in the community.
Not only did this undermine the people's faith, because they were no longer giving to God and to those who needed help:

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,    when it is in your power to act. (Proverbs 3:27)

. . . . but it made it impossible for the Levites and musicians to minister in the temple.  They were starved out! They had no choice but to go and work in the fields to support their families -- and then their temple duties were neglected.

I also learned that the portions assigned to the Levites had not been given to them, and that all the Levites and musicians responsible for the service had gone back to their own fields. (v. 10)

So, Eliashib set off a chain of events that had some very significant consequences!

To apply this to our lives, spiritual permissiveness often spreads from one area of our lives to another. It begins as a tiny thing, something that we consider fairly unimportant -- the tiny trickle then widens and grows as compromise spreads in our thinking and our actions. If we are not careful, it can become a huge torrent!
Now, we are not under the law of the tithe, as we have discussed before. We are to give as the Lord has prospered us.

On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. (I Corinthians 16:2)

However, it's easy to see how permissiveness can affect our giving. When we have allowed compromise in, we may begin to see our giving as a chore, instead of a privilege. We may begin to think of all the fun things that we could buy with that money, and grow resentful, instead of giving cheerfully.

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (II Corinthians 9:7)

The prophet Malachi was confronting the people at this time -- he told them they were robbing God by not bringing in their offerings.

You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.  (Malachi 3:9-10a)

Nehemiah sure found things in a mess when he returned!
We'll continue studying to see a couple more problems that he found -- and then we will see how he solved these problems!

Permissiveness in matters of faith

I don't want to be guilty of "plowing the same ground," as my grandma used to say, but I guess I should remind us all that we are studying in the thirteenth (and final) chapter of Nehemiah. We might have some peeps that are just joining us, or some that have some catching up to do.
When I first studied the chapter, the thing that impressed me was that Nehemiah returned from Persia to find one of the same problems that believers face in our world today. Permissiveness had crept into the faith community, but Nehemiah was quick to spot it -- and to stop it!

The first place that Nehemiah writes about is the area of compromise in matters of faith. And this one can be a tough one, so buckle up and hang on, OK? (grin)
The chapters in Nehemiah have mentioned some storage rooms that were used for grain offerings, utensils used in worship and sacrifices, and the tithes that the people brought in. We see this again in verse 5:

and he had provided him with a large room formerly used to store the grain offerings and incense and temple articles, and also the tithes of grain, new wine and olive oil prescribed for the Levites, musicians and gatekeepers, as well as the contributions for the priests. (Nehemiah 13:5)

So, we see that this room was important for keeping inventory of necessary temple items: grain offerings, incense, new wine, olive oil, and the incense and utensils for the temple worship. Eliashib was the high priest at this time (his name means "God restores" or "God causes to return."  Eliashib had taken it upon himself to clear out the room -- and he must have done the same with one or more smaller rooms:

I gave orders to purify the rooms, and then I put back into them the equipment of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the incense. (v. 9)

We can see that in this verse, more than one single room is referred to. Looks like Eliashib must have created a whole apartment for someone . . . let's keep looking.

 Before this, Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God. He was closely associated with Tobiah,  (v.4)

Whoaaaaaaah, pardner! That name looks familiar -- isn't he one of the bad guys?
In a word, yes.
He's THAT Tobiah. Tobiah the Ammonite.
Wow.
If I remember correctly, Tobiah was a scoffer. A mocker. And he strongly (SUPER strongly) opposed Nehemiah's efforts to rebuild the wall!

When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites.But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. “What is this you are doing?” they asked. “Are you rebelling against the king?”  (Nehemiah 2:10, 19)

Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building—even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!” But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. 8 They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. (Nehemiah 4:3, 7-8)

In chapter six, we saw that Tobiah was very familiar (I guess today we would say he was "well connected," or that he was really good at networking.) with the Jews and that he had persuaded many of them that he was a good guy. But at the same time, he was sending letters full of trashtalk to Nehemiah. (You can check it out in chapter six, verses seventeen through nineteen.)
So what in the world was Eliashib thinking?
Giving this guy a personal residence in the temple of Jehovah!
Why?
Well, scholars' research gives us some clues from the Bible . . . . the first thing is that the high priest and Tobiah were related. Here in chapter thirteen, we are told:

Before this, Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God. He was closely associated with Tobiah, (v. 4)

And remember back in chapter six?

Also, in those days the nobles of Judah were sending many letters to Tobiah, and replies from Tobiah kept coming to them. 18 For many in Judah were under oath to him, since he was son-in-law to Shekaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berekiah. (Nehemiah 6:17-18)

Another factor may have been that Tobiah had a Jewish name; it meant "God is good." So he wasn't totally Ammonite, right? We don't have to be so wary; we don't have to say he can't be a part of our community . . . he's just partially Ammonite! It's always more difficult to draw the line against a "good" person who is just mixed up on some things, than against an outwardly wicked person who is spouting obviously wrong stuff. We can see that is would have been tough to side with a "strict" commandment like this from the Levitical law -- excluding all Ammonites from the assembly of Israel -- when your relative is an Ammonite, and especially when he seems to be part Jewish!

To put that in terms of today's world, let's give an example. . . . . It is tough to insist that the Catholic way of salvation is not God's way when you have friends and perhaps relatives who are in the Catholic faith. It's tough to insist that Muslims are not following God's way of salvation when they use almost all of the same terminology that the Bible uses. It's hard to say these things when we may see these people giving to others, working in a food bank, sacrificing for the needs of many, etc.
And I'm NOT saying that we should shun people of other faiths! Don't take that away from this post, because that is not the point here. However, if we are close to people of other faiths, it can be easy to allow permissiveness in matters of faith. It's easy for them to influence us.

Let me explain with our two example faiths: the Catholic Church insulates people from God, because He is mainly approached through priests and saints. Catholic salvation is received by faith, but then must be maintained by good works and participation in the Sacraments.  However, Bible-believing Christians pray directly to our Father God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. We don't deny the importance of good works or that Christs tells us to observe the "Lord's Supper" and baptism. We do those in remembrance of Him - and obedience to Him. But the difference is that we view these things as a RESULT of salvation, not a REQUIREMENT for salvation.
Muslims use much of the same terminology that appears in the Bible: salvation, sin, heaven, one God, and law. The thing that is missing from their "dictionary" is the word "savior." The Muslims believe a Savior is unnecessary -- they alone must atone for their sin by their works.

It's easy to allow permissiveness to creep in through the open door of relationships. We want to be friendly and to influence others for good. We want to have the opportunities to tell them about our Savior. But we must be vigilant, or their beliefs may influence us and cause us to compromise our own beliefs. Wrong friendships can seriously damage us spiritually. Let's be welcoming and open to those of other faiths, and work within those friendships to influence them with the good news of the gospel.
But let's be careful to choose our closest friends and allies from those who want to follow Jesus Christ! Let's be certain that we do not compromise in matters of faith.

Prayer requests

If there have been any beneficial outcomes during this uncertain time of 2020 (I guess it will be known as the year of the virus, no?), I believe they will be the numbers of people who have returned to paths that we humans walked in the past.
Many more people have gained warmer relationships with family and friends. Many have grown to value the intangible things of this world: a smile, the love of others, the feeling of unity, the desire to serve and help others.  And still others have come to the realization that without God, much of what this world has to offer is simply worthless.
Surely it makes us rejoice to see people relying on our Father and voicing their trust in Him. Many have reached up to realize His hands are already reaching down to help them. In their grief, in their fear, in their despair, He has comforted and consoled them.
The Word tells us that He is our Father.

Yet you, Lord, are our Father.    We are the clay, you are the potter;
    we are all the work of your hand. (Isaiah 64:8)

As a father has compassion on his children,    so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed,    he remembers that we are dust. (Psalm 103:13-14)

We also read that not only does He have compassion on us, but that He has blessed us abundantly.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3)

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1:17)

And He will continue to bless us and hear our prayers.

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.  (I John 5:14)

As we have our time of prayer today, let us remember all of the families who have lost loved ones to this terrible new virus. Let's pray also for those who are working so hard to help critically ill people survive. And let's ask God to bless all of His children; to be near all of us; to show us those who could use an encouraging word, a prayer, or a smile.

If there is a prayer request that we can pray with you, please leave a comment so that we can pray specifically for you -- if you have a praise for answered prayer, let us know so that we can rejoice with you!

Seeing where permissiveness starts

Last week, we mentioned that sometime during Nehemiah's trip back to Persia, the people's determination to keep their covenant with God had waned. They'd heard the reading of the scriptures, and they had repented, made a covenant, and celebrated.
Then, at some point, Satan had sidled in and introduced permissiveness. Compromise is one of his best weapons, ya know?
The people should have been well aware of God's standards of holiness. After all, it had not been that long ago that they stood and listened intently to the reading (and then the explanation) of the Word of God. God had commanded that His people be holy:

I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. (Leviticus 11:44a)

For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. (Deuteronomy 7:6)

The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.'" (Leviticus 19:1-2)

In the Old Testament, the concept of holiness is that something (or someone) is separated from the world and from sin, and dedicated to God. In the verses above, God said that His people were to be holy -- separated from all other nations and dedicated to the worship of the one true God. "Things" could be holy, too; the Sabbath was holy because it was separated from work, and from travel, and from all of the everyday activities of life. It was dedicated to rest and to worship. The vessels in the temple and the tabernacle were holy because they were separated from ordinary usage; they were dedicated and only to be for sacred use.
All of the laws and "do this, not this," of Levitical law were to make the Israelites separate from all other nations. The Jewish people were to be different -- in their diet, their clothing, their farming practices, their observance of the Sabbath, their morality, and even their sanitation. The Levitical laws taught the people a clear distinction between clean and unclean, holy and unholy.

You must distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between living creatures that may be eaten and those that may not be eaten. (Leviticus 11:47)

The priests were to teach the people:

They are to teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. (Ezekiel 44:23)

These standards of holiness made Judaism unique among ancient religions. It incorporated (well, actually it was founded upon) the idea that morality was linked with religion.  This was far removed from the other religions of the era -- other peoples and nations worshiped idols like Baal, Molech, Ashteroth, and more. Their religious rituals included immoral sex such as prostitution and orgies, as well as human sacrifices. 
What? Seriously? 
It doesn't seem that difficult to see that those practices are wrong, wrong.
So why in the world would the people of Israel have a continuing struggle with idolatry? 
I think part of the problem is this: when the people of Israel finally walked out of the wilderness, they found Canaan to be a land of farmers. Here they were, finally finished with wandering in the desert, picking up manna to eat, and so on, and they are looking at a land that is fertile beyond anything they've imagined. Put yourself in their sandals, so to speak. If you'd been a dusty, tired nomad for years, wouldn't you love seeing lush fields and vineyards? Wouldn't you be impressed?

Well, the trouble starts when the Canaanites say that they attribute the fertility to their God Baal.  Tiny, niggling doubts creep into the minds of the Israelites . . . can the God who led them out of Egypt and through the desert also provide them with fertile farms in the promised land? Maybe to be safe, and to "cover all the bases," it would be good to worship both -- YAHWEH and Baal.
Perhaps that is why the Israelites were attracted to the Canaanite gods. Over and over again, they fell into this trap. Over and over, God would discipline them. The people would repent, and God's mercy would fall like the rain; all would be well until the next time that the Israelites reached for Baal or for Asherah, instead of for Jehovah.

Unfortunately, with human nature being what it is, this spiritual battle went on and on. And on. By the time of Ahab and Jezebel, the fertility gods appeared to have the official sanction of the rulers of Israel. Ahab was encouraged by his wife to build a temple to Baal in his own capital of Samaria. Of course, prophets like Elijah (his name means "YAHWEH is God"), Hosea (his means "salvation"), Isaiah ("YAHWEH is salvation"), and Jeremiah ("YAHWEH will exalt") were exhorting any who would listen, and telling them that YAHWEH alone deserved the allegiance and worship of the people. 
Sigh.
Not many listened.
It took the Assyrians to destroy Israel and take Judah into captivity to convince the Jewish people that there is only ONE omnipotent God. 

This struggle to be totally committed to God, "sold out" to Him, is of vital significance to us today, too. We probably don't think of ourselves as idol worshipers. We look askance at these examples from the Old Testament and pat ourselves on the back. We don't do anything like these terribly crazy people did; we don't have fertility gods or idols on the shelves in our homes. We don't engage in temple prostitution or sexual immorality, thinking that this what those idols will be pleased with. 
But here's the bottom line: we struggle to serve God alone in every part of our lives. If we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that. It's so easy to honor possessions, relationships, fun, fame, and money -- and a whole list of other potential "gods" that would replace our Savior as first priority in our lives. And these things are so seductive, too. This whole permissiveness deal can start with something that seems so innocent at the time.
We need to learn from Israel's experience. We need to respond to Christ's command for total allegiance, and not allow permissiveness to blind us.
Now, we do have some advantages today, no? We are no longer saddled with the Levitical law and all of its "do this, not this" rules. That ceremonial law foreshadowed the greater truths that we know today. That law taught spiritual principles in physical, concrete form, and was a pointer toward what we are guided by today:

So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. (Galatians 3:24-27) 

The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. (Hebrews 10:1)

The new covenant did away with the ceremonial law, but it retained the call to morality and spiritual holiness:

Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. (Colossians 2:16-17) 

Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God. (I Peter 2:16)

Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.  (Hebrews 12:14)

So, we have come full circle; we are back to where we were talking about standards of holiness and about permissiveness that overlooks our not maintaining those standards. The only way that Nehemiah knew the people had deviated from God's standards was that he was steeped in the scriptures -- as we should be, too.
This week, we will be looking at several areas where it's easy to allow compromise to creep in. These include the areas of our faith, our finances, our time, and even our homes. 
Keep those Sherlock Holmes hats and magnifying glasses handy, now, we'll be needing them again as we examine ourselves regarding spiritual permissiveness!