PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Joshua 21-22
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“You have carried out the mission the Lord your God gave you.” (Joshua 22:3)
As Jesus followers we believe God has prepared an eternal home for us.
“My Father’s house has many rooms; I am going there to prepare a place for you!” (John 14:2)
This is a great hope for us, but what about those who do not know?
What about the many souls wandering lost and desperate without eternal hope?
The men of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh left home to help the other tribes find their home.
They had a mission from the Lord, and made sacrifices for the sake of others.
Now their mission is done, and they can finally return to enjoy their own homes.
God isn’t just concerned about us; He wants to help others home too. (John 10:16)
The story of Joshua – and the bible – is about God’s mission to bring everyone home.
Jesus calls us as missionaries to make sacrifices to help others come home.
We are not home yet, this is still the mission field, as we help God’s other sheep.
How are you responding to the homeless, the refugee, the exile, the lost?
We can’t open other’s hearts to God’s love, but we can love them to make them want it!
Will He say to me, “You have carried out the mission the Lord your God gave you.” (Joshua 22:3)
PRAYER
Lord, You are not just concerned to give me a home, but my neighbors too. Give me a heart for the homeless, the refugee, the exiled. Help me to see it as my mission to help them too!
Lord all of your good promises came to pass, just as we can expect them to today! Thank you for walking with us and leaving us an inheritance, and a mission to distribute Your inheritance to our neighbours just as the Israelites did.
The Reubenites built an altar – not for sacrifice but as a testimony – that they serve the Lord. What can we build today to serve as a testimony. I personally think that we should be living trees that bear fruit valuable to the kingdom of God. We are to be living temples – not for sacrifice but for service – temples of Jesus’ gift to us: the Holy Spirit. Through the spirit we bear testimony – may our lives be a testimony of God’s grace and forgiveness. Not building legacies and earthly paneled homes for ourselves but to be places of witness/of testimony! We live on purpose for God’s purpose!
Once again I am reminded ‘ to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.’ I am His servant, living for Jesus this day. In all that I do and say, others need to see Christ in me. Christian is my name, a follower of Jesus – not only in name but also in doing – sharing His love to those around me.
Jesus, all for Jesus
All I am and have and ever hope to be
Jesus, all for Jesus
All I am and have and ever hope to be
All of my ambitions, hopes and plans
I surrender these into Your hands
All of my ambitions, hopes and plans
I surrender these into Your hands
For it’s only in Your will that I am free
For it’s only in Your will that I am free
Jesus, all for Jesus
All I am and have and ever hope to be