Passage Read: Deuteronomy 32 - Joshua 1
Meditation Verses: Joshua 1:7-8
Thought
There are two paths to success. One is to trust in the Lord and diligently learn from Him to do His will, then He will grant success. The other is to work as hard as possible to overcome all the challenges in the way, to carve a path to success by our own strength and wisdom. God promises success to the one who does the first, and success would be to accomplish all that God lays on our hearts. And his praise will be from God for eternity. The second path has no guarantee, except of determined labor, but if a person achieves success in that way, he'll be able to boast in himself for as long as the success lasts. But any success that comes in that way will be short-lived, limited at least by his length of days. And that man will have no praise from God, but only eternal shame.
Application
Wealth, power, privilege, comfort, none of these are worthy life goals. The only goal worthy of a life is to know God as thoroughly as possible and to walk in as pleasing a manner to Him as possible. Whatever material success and prosperity comes will be nice, but not that important. What matters most is to have the Lord exalt me at the end of this age because I made Him my ambition. All of the treasures and pleasures of this world are temporary, and could cost me eternal treasure and pleasure in His presence; none are worth such a price. But giving up any earthly hopes, dreams, treasures and pleasures that hinder or distract me from knowing and walking in His ways are entirely worth the loss, because I'll receive even greater things in His presence for eternity, for in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He is the greatest treasure and reward! Attaining to the resurrection of the dead is the ultimate success. The resurrection is not gained by claiming to believe some things about Jesus, but by recognizing who He truly is, so that He becomes supremely important to know and honor and serve. Meditating on this Book day and night, to know Him and to reorient my life to live as He directs, this must be the most important thing to me each day, the priority I let nothing else hinder or distract me from.