Are We Making the Right Call For Our Lives? Part 2 Joshua 24:14-18

We can make the right call for our life when we set the example.  Joshua goes on to say in the second part of verse 15, “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”  Listen this is really getting powerful so lets pause put a dime in the meter and spend a couple minutes breaking it down.  This is actually Joshua’s final address to the people of Israel, he was well up in age and the time of his departure was near and he wanted the people to get serious about serving the Lord.  Joshua had seen a lot in his lifetime.  He bore the scars of a long-term commitment.  He spent his early years in service to the great liberator Moses, and his later years were spent leading God’s people into battle in the Promised Land.  He had seen the plagues in Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea.  He had seen the trip through the desert to the edge of the Promised Land and then the trip back into the desert for forty additional years of wilderness wandering.  He saw God part the Jordan River and crumble the walls of Jericho.  I mean Joshua lived a full life.  He had been strong and courageous.  He experienced the power and presence of God in his life and in his leadership.   He was a true leader, and he had a leader.  In other words, Joshua challenged the people of Israel to choose God.  He did not ask them to do something he was not willing to do.   He set the example, he took the lead and declared, “But as for me and my household, my track record is proof that we will serve the Lord.”  And I don’t know about you but I love it, for if you and I are going to make the right calls for our lives then we must set the example.  The only problem if we are honest with ourselves is the fact many times we do set an example, which can be downright cantankerous.  As a matter of fact, when we look around and complain about all of the violence that is going on around us, kids won’t listen, families are struggling, young people are dropping out of school, careers are in turmoil.  It is simply because sometimes you and I are not setting a positive example, we are not modeling what it looks like to be a passionate man and woman of God.  The calls we make for our lives as adults can influence and have a major impact on our young people today and tomorrow.  I have learned that a good leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.  It’s not good enough to just know the way.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life,” and he put it to practice.