SUMMARY: Land divided
OVERVIEW: The division of the promised land is complete, and Joshua is the last to receive his piece. He chose an area in the mountains.
BIG IDEA: Learn to be a leader by being a follower. Follow Jesus.
KEY VERSE: Joshua 19:49-51 (commentary)
After all the land was divided among the tribes, the Israelites gave a piece of land to Joshua as his allocation. For the Lord had said he could have any town he wanted. He chose Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim. He rebuilt the town and lived there.
IF GOD WROTE YOU A LETTER
Regardless of your role today or in the future, you will have opportunities to lead. Everyone is a leader, but you learn to lead by first learning to follow. Follow me. Be my disciple—my follower—and I will teach you how to live. Joshua did that and provided a terrific example of faithful leadership. Walk with me and grow as a leader by following first.
When tempted to put yourself first, pause, and invite someone to go before you. When you want to take credit for an idea–even though others were involved–pause and enjoy bragging on the merits of your teammates. When you have a choice of what to eat or where to go, pause, and encourage others to give input and select one of their ideas. I’m not asking you to be a doormat or never to express your wants or feelings. Those things come naturally to you, so I want you to learn a new way of leading by following.
NEXT STEP
Lead by example in putting others first. Look for opportunities to pause and allow others to go before you: open the door for someone, let a merging car in, allow someone to go before you in line, etc.
SONG