You have not left your brethren these many days, up to this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of the LORD your God.
They did not leave their brethren all these days. Sometimes when days turn into weeks, months and years while we struggle to achieve spiritual goals or conquer our own promised lands, we become less focused and more complacent. I have a friend who is a relatively new convert. When we studied and she was baptized, her daughter was about eleven years old. She started out with a great passion for the assemblies and a focus on improving her study skills and growing in godly motherhood. But the past five years have found her alternating between passion and passiveness. Her faith will be a fire for a short time and then cool to lukewarm and sometimes even coldness. Yesterday I talked with her about her daughter. Seeing our congregation’s children and teens learning leadership skills, training for service and participating in Bible bowl, she commented, “I sure wish Cassie was involved in this.” Her daughter, who once begged her to come to worship, now worships with her friend at a denomination. She’s sixteen now and the prime moldable years have passed. If only this mom could have seen the importance of not leaving her brethren all these days. When we lapse into unstable attendance and involvement patterns, we may forfeit the inheritance, not only for ourselves, but for the next generation.
…And remember, when the perspective is eternal, “all these days” is a very short time to stick with the people of God.
The above post is taken largely from “More Than Conquerors: Studies in Joshua” the 2009 Lectureship book from the Bear Valley Bible Institute in Denver; Building Your Own Altars, by Cindy Colley.
