“Be strong and courageous, because the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9
Growing in almost every area of life requires personal commitment. Most people understand this. But, applying this to our relationship with Jesus takes it to another level. It requires a spiritual commitment and personal choices associated with it. Choices determine our development. Our character is shaped by the day-to-day decisions and challenges we face. Here are some reminders that go with those choices in life.
You and I cannot live off somebody else’s spiritual commitment. Our parents and our relatives might be the most extraordinary believers we know, but that won’t transfer to you. Here is an example, just because your relative is an NFL superstar won’t make you one. You have to make your own choices in life. Someone once said, “You can’t get to heaven on someone else’s spiritual apron strings.” That’s a fact.
In the same way, you can’t hold others accountable for the course of your life. You and I are to daily choose to be as close to God as possible. A Seminary professor was quoted, “If you don’t feel very close to God, guess who moved?” Spoiler alert…it wasn’t God. You get to choose.
I believe the more time anyone dedicates to studying and reading about God in the Bible, and simply spending time with Him, the more faithful and courageous that individual becomes. It is through this practice and other practices of prayer, giving, service, and Sabbath, that we begin to understand that we are truly under God and accountable to Him for above anything else.
In the Old Testament, Joshua succeeded Moses as the leader, but he didn’t become a leader by clinging to Moses’s legacy. Instead, he made the choices that propelled him to leadership. Joshua 20:4 “You may choose for yourself today whom you will serve, but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
en.