Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
Imagine giving a goodbye speech to people that you love and care for deeply. What would you say? I mean, would you tell them to explore the world? Go taste good food? Love your neighbor? Give to charities? Go live it up a little bit? What would you tell your loved ones if you had one last speech?
I remember when I was a hospital chaplain, I sat in a room of a patient who was actively dying, and the patient had his family in the room, and was saying his goodbye speech. It's amazing when people are actively dying, the stuff that they say. They start to reveal their priorities. They'll say things like, love your daddy, take care of mama, take care of the kids. Give freely. Forgive fast.
Joshua's Farewell Speech
In our text today, Joshua has a farewell speech. This is what he says: Joshua chapter 23 and verse 11. So be very careful to love the Lord your God. Think about this. Out of all the things that Joshua could have said, he didn't say, make sure you discipline yourself. Make sure you go see the world. Enjoy the world. There's nothing wrong with seeing the world. But he says, hey, love the Lord your God.
Why does he do that? Because if we're going to stay on track, he's speaking to the Israelites that just entered the Promised Land. If they're going to stay on track, he says, you have to love the Lord your God. That's another way of saying you got to keep the main thing, the main thing, and that's loving the Lord.
The Battle Against Idols
Earlier he said to not pursue idols, which he told them in the past, over and over. The reason he tells them again is because, man, I tell you, we're so good at forgetting that God's ways are the best and our ways are not. Joshua's trying to center them and say, hey, keep your eyes on the Lord.
He's saying, love the Lord your God, because if you love God, you're going to reject these other idols. There's things in this world that are going to be screaming for our attention. There are these idols—comfort, money, our jobs, or our status. All these things can become idols and if we don't make God the lover of our souls, these other things are going to pull for our attention. Joshua is saying, stay focused and make sure you love God.
Stay on Fire for God
When I read this verse, I ask myself, how do I stay on fire for God? How do I love God? The first step is this: embrace the spiritual disciplines. What are the spiritual disciplines? Prayer, fasting and reading God's Word, and going to church.
These are all disciplines that we won't feel like doing all the time, but it's like throwing logs into a fire. The more I do these disciplines, the more I'm on fire for the Lord. There's going to be days that you're not going to feel like waking up and reading your Bible, praying, or going to church. But we must make a decision. We're not going to live by our feelings. We're going to live by the truth of God's Word. We're going to discipline ourselves because we know it's for our good.
If we're going to stay on fire for God, we have to embrace the spiritual disciplines. Number two: get around a good, healthy church. Surround yourself with believers who are going to encourage you. Pray with you. Correct you if needed. In fact, get somebody in your life who will love you enough to tell you the truth.
You're Not Alone
When we get around believers, we start to understand that we're not the only ones who are struggling with sin. We're not the only ones that feel discouraged. I can't tell you how many times I've been at church and I'm at a low point, battling depression, wondering, why am I the only one going through this? Then, when I share that with either my small group or men that I trust in the church, I realize I'm not alone.
See, when I'm around Christlike people, when I'm around people who are on mission, I'm encouraged. All of us could use some encouragement because there's a lot of discouraged people. Joshua says, be very careful to love the Lord your God. Let's keep the main thing, the main thing.
