Finishing Well

What does it take to finish well? i have asked myself that at the end of every single year so far in college and have yet to answer it effectively. Coming soon is my fourth and final attempt to answer the inevitable question. here are some thoughts God's given me in my quiet times:

- Joshua finished well. He left nothing undone God commanded Moses before him to do. Then only after this did Joshua and the nations of Israel experience rest from war.
I have seven days of class left. Today i skipped a class to sleep through it. Yesterday I was not diligent with a paper. This is not finishing well. Diligence and discipline are both necessary.

- Caleb finished well. He banked on God's promise made to him back in the day and approached Joshua bearing with confidence this promise. Joshua told Caleb the hill country was his if he would only attack the Anakites with their large and fortified cities. Caleb, being a man who wholeheartedly served God responded "...the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said."
Finishing well requires obedience. Obedience requires courage. Courage requires action. I can say I want to finish well as many times as I want, but until exercise the courage needed to, say, share the bridge with my classmate, I will not finish well.

- The Tribe of Manasseh did not finish well. They wanted a larger inheritance, so, like Caleb Joshua told them to move against the Canaanites in the hill country, and though they have iron chariots, you will drive them out. Manasseh's response: we're too afraid. Consequences of action: two generations later the Canaanites that Manasseh refused to eliminate mustered an army and enslaved Israel for 18 years.
Finishing well requires us to think about more than ourselves. Our actions have consequences. The consequences of me being frightened to share the bridge with my classmate effects more than me and him. It effects generations of laborers which could be the result of a nurtured seed. It not only effects the eternality of his soul, but potentially the souls of everyone he choses to impact both negatively and positively for the rest of his life. And the rest of his future children's lives. And his children's children's lives...

I want to be someone who, like Caleb, responds to God with immediate, wholehearted obedience at the slightest inclination of His calling.

Joshua

I was reading Joshua 11 the other day and came accross this verse:

"As the LORD commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua did it; he left nothing undone of all that the LORD commanded Moses. "

It made me think whether there was anything God still wants me to do out of obedience these last few weeks besides survive and have fun.

The last verse in that chapter says "Then the land had rest from war." Later in Hebrews chapter 4 it says:

"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." 8For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 11Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.

I don't really think I understand this coorelation. I do know however that there are some things God calls us to out of obedience. And in Israel's case only after they completed everything God had for them to do did he great the reward for that obedience. And as indicated by Hebrews, how much greater is the rest that God will give us when we come home to be with Him.

Whatever my lot God hast taught me to say it is well, it is well with my soul.

On Jobs

So I thought I finally came up with a good title for my blog: "On Life..." Then I realized I had only thought of that because I was reading Layne's blog, appropriately titled the same thing. So out of due respect here's the woman who inspired my almost-title:

I wonder how long until she comments on this post... :)


I had an interview with Target yesterday. After struggling with diagrams on Wikihow about "How to tie a tie" and repeatedly failing miserably, forgoing the tie, running to interview wearing a suit and no tie, and realizing during the actual interview process that I was more interested in hearing what the interviewers did after college than impressing them with my ridiculous answers to their questions, I realized maybe the job world is not for me.

Despite the overall discouraging job search, God's given me several verses he wants me to cling to with white knuckles.

- "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God." Ps 42:5

- "Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace... II Tim 2:22

- "Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you." Ps. 116:7

- and my personal favorite: All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. Heb. 11:13-16