Dodger: Hey! It's good to see you! Has life treated you well? I sure hope you've been having fun.
Lilly: I just got finished with a blog post, so I was definitely having a good time. What's up?
Dodger: I was going to ask you that. Did we get any mail?
Lilly: Yes, actually. Not the paper kind- people send us less and less of that.
Dodger: Yeah. So is it an email?
Lilly: Yep. Let's see here. "Dear Dodger and Lilly, don't you realize that nothing you say is going to make that much difference? The world is such a busy and sad place- what makes you think people have time for all your advice and old-fashioned Bible quoting? Why even bother? Those friends of yours are probably annoyed by all your yakking. Tone it down, why don't you? Insincerely, Sue Percinical."
Dodger: Ouch.
Lilly: I don't think we've ever had a message like that before. That was, well, pretty harsh.
Dodger: Well, we still need to answer the question.
Lilly: How? She just asked us why we don't cut it out.
Dodger: Right. So we need to tell her why.
Lilly: So...
Dodger: So we'll start with Nehemiah.
Lilly: Dodger, are you referring to the guy that headed the building of the wall in Jerusalem?
Dodger: Yep.
Lilly: Well, why?
Dodger: Because he was faced with that question all the time.
Lilly: Come again?
Dodger: I'll give a short background. Nehemiah was a royal official in King Artaxerxes xourt, er, court. He was also from Israel and Judah, which had been burned to the ground years ago by King Nebuchadnezzar. The city was still in a dumpy condition, and Nehemiah wanted to do something about it. So he went to Artaxerxes and asked for permission to help Judah. By God's grace, permission was granted.
Lilly: So far, so good.
Dodger: Right. He goes to the city and checks it out, and it's a real dump. Afterwards he meets up with a bunch of people and basically says "Let's fix this!" They all agree and get started.
Lilly: Cool. But, um, what's it got to do with us?
Dodger: Well, other people are very angry when they find out what Nehemiah is doing. In fact, at one point they even joke that if a fox jumped onto the wall being built that it would all fall to pieces.
Lilly: Insulting, but go on.
Dodger: Well, oftentimes Christians serving God face the same thing. He gives them a mission, they pursue it, and are nearly instantly attacked by people who hate both them and what they're doing.
Lilly: Why?
Dodger: Well, it's not people, really. Paul makes it pretty clear that we're not fighting people at all.
In his letter to the Church in Ephesus he says, "We are not fighting against humans. We are fighting against forces and authorities and against rulers of darkness and powers in the spiritual world (6:12, CEV)". The battle is always between God and the devil, ultimately, but the good news is that God wins every time. Nehemiah did eventually finish the wall, and Jerusalem was given some cleaning up.
Lilly: That's cool.
Dodger: So that's why we're here. The world is in a busted up shape, and when we talk about God's Word and principles we help build our piece of the wall, so to speak. It's not like it's a piece of cake all the time, but who knows? We might be able to make all the difference in the world without it. So that's why we do it, Sue. God's got everything in His hands, and we want to shine His light bright as we can, anywhere, anytime.
Lilly: I think you nailed it, Dodger.
Dodger: It's not just us. Everyone can do their best to honor God. It's certainly not popular, but you will change the world. Anyways, thanks for visiting us! It's great to see you! Have a blast, and remember that Jesus loves you, something that will never change!
Lilly: Ciao!
