Nehemiah 3:1-14

Nehemiah 3:1-14
English Standard Version (ESV) 

  When you're reading through the Bible, book by book, sections like this are easy to skip.  I see some names, and my eyes glaze over, and I quickly scan through until the action returns.  I always feel good about having read so many chapters of the Bible so quickly, as though God is pleased with my cursory reading of a few chapters of the Bible.
  Stop and think for a moment, though -- these people lived 2,500 years ago, and their contribution to rebuilding Jerusalem is recorded for us.  We can sit and read the names of people who contributed their labor to the effort.  They were rebuilding their home, and they are recognized for all of time here.
  Isn't that incredible?  How many other 2,500 year old names are recorded?  And if they are, it's probably for huge, monumental deeds.  Here, Hattush and Zanoah were just rebuilding a gate.
  In the city of God, we aren't remembered because we are famous or influential.  It's the simple contributions to God's Kingdom, our daily efforts to love and serve, that matter.  Don't reach for the world's honor, which is given and taken for trivial things.  Reach instead for the Kingdom of God, which is built on sacrifice and service, rooted in selfless love, and stands forever.