And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God.
(Exo 24:13)
I love this verse! Moses rises up, and immediately his servant Joshua does the same. The word “servant or “minister” here literally means one who waits upon, one who makes himself available to do the most menial tasks.
So here was Joshua, the one who would one day replace Moses as the Leader of the Israelites. 2 things we should notice here about Joshua:
Before Joshua was ever a leader, he was a follower. Now, I don’t mean that he followed just anyone… He followed his MASTER. Wherever Moses went, Joshua was right behind him… watching him, learning from him, available to him. We should learn from Joshua. Before we can ever be leaders in our Christian Faith, we first must learn to follow Jesus. To watch Him, Learn from Him, be available to Him. If jesus goes somewhere, we should go with Him… If Jesus loves someone, we should love them… We should follow the glorious example of Jesus and learn all we can from Him. As believer’s we should only be seeking to lead people to Jesus Christ, saying with Paul “follow me as I follow Christ”. If we are out doing our own thing, making our own trail, then we can’t expect to lead ANYONE to Jesus.
Before Joshua was a leader he was a servant. Jesus said “if you want to be great in God’s kingdom, learn to be the servant of all”. By being willing to serve Moses in even the most menial of tasks, Joshua was preparing for a life of sacrificial service to the Lord and His people. The life that God can use the most is the one that is most completely given to servanthood. Jesus was the servant of all, and so we should follow his example. As Christians we should never see a task as “beneath us”, acting as if we are too good to do something. We should be willing to do ANYTHING God calls us to do, simply because He will never ask us to do something He wouldn’t do. As we lead we should do the same… Never ask anyone to do anything you wouldn’t be willing to do yourself.
Like Joshua, let’s be ready to rise up and follow our master Jesus Christ wherever He might go… making ourselves available to Him, and leading others with us along the way!
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3 comments:
one of the hardest things to do is to swallow your selfish pride and be a servant! if you truly want to serve the Lord, than ask him to help you! all you got to do is swallow your pride and ask him!!!
I have a question - Does the number seven symbolize anything in particular, because I've seen it used the Bible alot?
Good question... Seven does symbolize something... in fact there are several numbers used in scripture that have symbolic value. Maybe i will write about them in a future devo!
For now, I'll just tell you about the number seven. Seven is used throughout the bible to signify COMPLETENESS. Think about the beginninrg of Genesis... God rested on the 7th day because the work was complete... the concept repeats throughout scripture... sometimes it signifies the completeness of God, other times the completeness of his work. Isaiah at one point refers to a vision of the "seven Spirits of God", and gives the attributes that makeup the COMPLETE work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. by the time we get to Revelation the number 7 is everywhere... 7 churches signify the entire body of Christ... 7 seals, trumpets, and bowls show his complete judgements, all taking place in a span of 7 years! It's in the details guys, the word of God is astounding!
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