Nehemiah 5:6-8(NIV): When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very angry. I pondered them in my mind and then accused the nobles and officials. I told them, “You are charging your own people interest!” So I called together a large meeting to deal with them and said: “As far as possible, we have bought back our fellow Jews who were sold to the Gentiles. Now you are selling your own people, only for them to be sold back to us!” They kept quiet, because they could find nothing to say.

Nehemiah was focused on rebuilding Jerusalem’s wall, but he cared enough to stop to help the poor. Nehemiah:

Stopped - v6-7, Luke 10:33-34

Cared - v9-12, Matthew 9:36

Lived it - v14-16, Romans 5:8

Nehemiah showed by his actions that people matter more than doctrine, programs or progress.

Do you notice the hurting people around you?

Are you willing to stop and act?

1 Corinthians 13:1-3(NIV): If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.