Faith
“‘As for all the inhabitants of the mountain regions from Lebanon to Misrephoth Maim, that is, all the Sidonians, I myself will drive them out before the Israelites. Be sure to allocate this land to Israel for an inheritance, as I have instructed you, 7 and divide it as an inheritance among the nine tribes and half of the tribe of Manasseh.’”
Today’s Text: Joshua 13:1-14 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
Joshua was good and old now, and there was still a good amount of territory that needed to be taken. But the promise of God is, “I myself will drive them out before the Israelites.”
It is important to recognize, however, that the LORD would not “drive them out” without the Israelites, but “before the Israelites.” In other words, the Israelites had to go out in faith to follow the LORD.
Without faith, they would be going out alone. With faith, God would go out before them.
There is so much that the church today needs to learn from this history. There are still many people who have not heard the good news of Jesus Christ. They may have heard about Jesus, but they have had no opportunity to hear the gospel. Maybe they have had no invitation to hear the gospel. And so the mission that Jesus has given to His people, His church, is to bear witness to Him to the ends of the earth until He returns.
No matter what worldview a person may hold, that person’s faith is manifested in words and deeds. For the Christian, faith must include obedience to Jesus’s commands. If a believer’s faith does not involve a good-faith effort to obey Christ, we might suspect that the person is not a true believer.
Of course, no one is really in any position to judge. We all fall short of the glory of God. And there is only one Judge, Jesus Christ.
The key phrase here, though, is “good-faith effort.” If we do not see a “good-faith effort” in someone to obey Jesus, we have a right and a responsibility to keep that person accountable with gentleness and love and encouragement and, of course, the word of God, as well as a good measure of our own personal humility and repentance.
As always, obedience is not about “do this, don’t do that.” Obedience is a matter of faith. If we truly believe, then we will want what Jesus wants. We will surrender our agenda to His. We will reprioritize our lives for His purposes, knowing that doing so is actually what will result in our greatest fulfillment and happiness.
And when we do go out in faith to make disciples of Jesus Christ, we are guaranteed that Jesus will be with us (Matthew 28:19-20). And He won’t just be with us. He will be going out before us to drive out the enemy.
As I start to get a little younger myself (XD), I realize that there is still much work to be done. My faith drives an urgency, not so much to finish the job, but to obey my Lord, Jesus Christ.
Father, Your great plan of salvation for the world in Christ Jesus will be accomplished, I know. Forgive me whenever my life is governed by any other agenda. And let me never trust in the effort that I expend in fulfilling Your great commission. But let me keep it simple and just focus on obeying You and trusting in Your word. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
