Today’s Scripture Reading (October
21, 2012): Joshua 17
I was
talking with a friend recently. He was trying to prioritize his life. There was
a lot that he wanted to accomplish. He was one of the fortunate people (or
maybe that should be the unfortunate people) who was extremely talented in a
number of areas. But the result of all of this talent to this point in his life
was that very little had been accomplished. He wanted to accomplish a lot – but
he was slowly accomplishing very little. And that was causing him more than
just a little guilt.
If we need a
purpose to live, then it follows that we all have a purpose, something that we
need to accomplish in this life. There is something that we just have to do.
But finding that one thing is always the difficult part of life. With so many
distractions, and so many other things that we could do, often it seems hard to
narrow life down to Curly’s one thing. It takes discipline if we are going
accomplish the task that has been set in front of us.
Joshua
comments that Manassites (the people of the tribe of Manasseh) were not able to
inhabit the land that was to be theirs. They met a resistance from the
inhabitants that they just did not have the strength to overcome – and they also
did not have enough people to inhabit the land. But Manasseh was also one of
the tribes that had asked to settle some of their people on the other side of
the Jordan River. And the reader has to wonder if that is part of the reason
why they struggled. They had set their sights on too much, and as a result they
were unable to fulfill the purpose that was in front of them.
The reality
of our lives is that we do have a purpose. But that we will also probably have
to say no to something in order to make sure that we can accomplish our purpose.
But we all need to find our one thing so that we will know what it is that we
need to say no to – and what requires our yes.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joshua
18
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