SCRIPTURE: Joshua 14
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
So on that day Moses swore to me, ‘The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly.’ [Joshua 14:9]
Wow, what an inspiring guy.
Eighty five years old and still vigorous for the Lord.
Caleb is an example of someone who is “sold out” on the Lord, even when others hold back.
His confidence in the Lord comes through loud and clear in this passage.
It reminds me of people I know in the church today who are amazing examples of vigorous devotion to the Lord and His cause, even at an old age.
It makes me think of the devotion of the first disciples, who made huge sacrifices to follow Jesus.
Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?” Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. [Matthew 19:27-29]
Is this an unspiritual, selfish request?
Maybe, though we should not be so quick to judge.
We all have mixed motives in what we do for the Lord, and in time the Lord exposes and purifies those motives, if we allow Him.
Peter understands better as time goes on that His inheritance is heavenly, spiritual [see 1 Peter 1:3-9].
Yes, there is a reward for faithful service to the Lord.
But the reward is the fringe benefit to the real treasure – being restored to God, to life, to wholeness.
Having been restored to God, we have entered the eternal kind of life, the life of fullness and satisfaction and contentment and joy.
We taste it here now, and anticipate it fully when Jesus returns.
But this reward is reserved for those who seek God first, for God’s sake (not just for the perks).
Those who love God, who love what God loves, who desire to be like God and live for God.
Jesus is the perfect example of this, but Caleb is also a good (not perfect) example.
I hope that when I am eighty-five, that I will be like Caleb – just as vigorous to go out to (serve) now as I was then.
To do this, I need to start now, I need to invest myself now.
What I am when I am eighty-five is the completion of what I strive for now!
PRAYER:
Lord, I want this kind of vigour for You, now and when I am eighty-five!