22:10 - For a second you get scared after reading this verse. It's like...seriously...you guys are really gonna turn away from God right after He gave you the Promised Land? Seriously! But as we continue reading, we see the story has a little twist...
22:15ff - Fortunately, the leaders of Israel decide to talk to the people who built the altar before they charge in and slaughter everyone. They have a conversation first...they ask questions and get clarifications, before they do anything rash. This can teach us alot about how to deal with conflict - before you do anything you're going to regret...talk to the person!
22:24ff - It's all good! They built the altar so they never forget who they are and so that the Jews on the other side of the Jordan don't forget that they both follow the same God. Nothing wrong with that! In fact, I think they actually lay day a nice challenge for current day Christians. Our lives should be an altar that proclaims our commitment to the Lord. There is often times when Christians have a huge gap between their church lives and their personal lives...you could easily look at them and say, "You aren't one of our brothers! We don't serve the same God!" Yet if our lives were shaped by our faith whether at church, at work, or home - they would stand out as a reminder of what we believe to all who saw.
23:7 - American Christians have kinda blown it with this one. We have been molded and shaped by our culture, and we bow down to their gods - greed, pride, wealth, power, self-worship, etc.
23:14 - God never fails to do what He has promised. Never forget!
24:20ff - I thought it was interesting that Joshua really pushed back on the people of Israel...he really wants them to count the cost of discipleship. They make a great speech about serving God and he says - "You sure about this? God is jealous and expects u to keep your word!" They make the covenant anyway and as we will see in the next book of the Bible - they pay a heavy price when they break the covenant they have made with God. Maybe Christian churches of today should be a little more adamant about the cost of discipleship...it seems like sometimes we offer a gospel and a faith up to people that is actually pretty easy to follow...but there is nothing easy about making a covenant with Jesus Christ. Maybe we should take a page from Josh's book.
3 comments:
23:8-11- I like this whole section; Especially when it says "Be very careful, therefore, to love the LORD your God". Loving God isn't something we can just say in our heads and then move on. We have to always watch out for that love and defend it when it comes under attack from even the smallest remnant of worldliness.
I liked how the nation (all the tribes) get a history lesson from God, recalling everything that has happened since Abraham. (the calling of Abraham, his sons Issac and Jacob, Egypt and slavery, delivery from slavery, the wilderness, other key events and the conquest of the promised land). to end that little history lesson Josh says you must choose whom you will serve; the other gods or Yahweh. This is a very similar ending to the book of Deuteronomy where Moses said chose life or chose death. The emphasis is on the choice we will make. Because we will choose something to worship, and we cant serve two masters. Its cool to see Joshua end his life with the same kind or charge to the people that his mentor ended with (here's what happend... you make the choice who to serve/worship, God or _______ whatever else).
I read a few chapters ahead into Judges and its sad to see what happens right after this. Its really easy to point the finger at the Israelites and say "Gosh, you guys made a promise to worship God, then two generations later your back at the Baal worship" but don't be so harsh on them because if we look at our short term history we aren't so much better. How long did it take for us to be founded as a Christian nation and then to turn back to worshiping other things? 3 or 4 generations? some cases maybe even as short as one lifetime. We can see it in our own lives. some times it only takes a few days for us to go to church and then fall back into worshiping things other than God.
what must be done to break this cycle of history? If you look at what happened in Judges, they (Israel) allowed themselves to be surrounded and intertwined with bad influences. they didn't do what God called them to do, they married into other nations and let other cultures mix with theirs; resulting in their hearts turning from God to worship other things. I think that breaking the cycle of turning away from God starts with asking the question: what are my choices; who am I going to serve? God or me? Am i serving God with what music i listen to, what movies I watch, what websites i click on, what TV shows i'm addicted to; Am i serving God with how i do my homework, how i handle my business, do i cheat on tests, do I cuss when i'm not around my church buddies, do i obey my parents, do i lie to people... We will always be surrounded by compromising situations, but what am i choosing? Can i still be surrounded by all these things and still choose to worship God (of course). I choose my music, TV, movies, websites, language, lying or telling the truth... i choose to love God or not in every decision I make.
It starts with asking the question what are my choices, and ends with what am i choosing?
I think 1 Corinthians 15:33 sums it up well. "Do not be deceived: bad company ruins good morals." who and what we surround ourselves with, will effect us. If you take a second to look around and realize your surrounded by bad influences don't be surprised if you begin to look like what's around you; do something about it, make a choice, make a change.
Thanks for the comments guys - very nice.
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