Seize the Moment – Day 688
The Position of Honor!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, February 3.
Please be safe and stay warm in today’s winter storm. The church office is closed, and the men’s breakfast has been rescheduled for next Saturday, February 12. Be safe and see you Sunday morning. Please reach out to serve someone today, even if through a phone call or by checking on your neighbor.
Joshua was a humble man – a servant leader! We see this clearly demonstrated in Joshua 19:49-50:
When they finished apportioning the land for inheritance by its borders, the sons of Israel gave an inheritance in their midst to Joshua the son of Nun. In accordance with the command of the Lord they gave him the city for which he asked, Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim. So he built the city and settled in it.
It is important to point out that Caleb’s inheritance of land was the first to be given in Canaan (Joshua 14:6-15); whereas, Joshua’s inheritance was the last to be apportioned. The two faithful spies, the only remaining men of their generation allowed to enter the Promised Land, bookended the dividing of the Promised Land. Joshua could easily have taken the choice of the land for himself, but that was not the way he was taught by Moses (Numbers 12:3). Instead, Joshua chose to give the honored position to Caleb instead of demanding it for himself.
Jesus taught His disciples this lesson about humility in Luke 14:8-11:
When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, “Give your place to this man,” and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place. But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, “Friend, move up higher”; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
Seize the moment and put another person before yourself today. Be a servant leader.
God bless you!