Joshua must have started off his leadership as somewhat shy and nervous. If "be strong and courageous" was the prescription, then the problem must have been that he was lacking courage. That does not seem to be the description of Joshua in chapter ten. In fact he calls his leaders to put their feet on the necks of the kings they are about to kill and declares to them what God spoke to him in chapter one, i.e., "do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Be strong and courageous." He not only believed and lived the message, he now passed it on to those around him. He overflowed with courage and strength.
Every now and then in life, a true "life-changing" decision must be made. For me, leaving my career to become a missionary, adopting Venezuelan twins and returning Sfrom the mission field were some of those gut-wrenching decisions. I now get to face a new one. Every time fear tries to take over the decision making process. All the questions of "what if" cloud the issue. Once a decision has been reached, however, I pray I move ahead with ruthless confidence like Joshua. He was totally sold out to the conquest of the land and called others to catch up. I pray that I will follow the same pattern.
I also have to ask myself why don't we walk with the same confidence and focus 24/7? Why do we let ourselves become so caught up in the trivialities of life that we fail to accomplish the greater good? Life with a clear purpose looks so different from life without purpose. If feels different. It has meaning and conviction. In the words of the Switchfoot, "We were meant to live for so much more. Have we lost ourselves?" So here is to hoping that we live not only with strength and confidence but with strength and confidence in our God-given purpose.
No comments:
Post a Comment