April 10, 2023 – Putting Others First

  April 10, 2023
  Daily Reading – Joshua 18-20 / Luke 9:1-27

 

 GOD’S WORD:

Joshua 19:49 When they had made an end of dividing the land for inheritance by their coasts, the children of Israel gave an inheritance to Joshua the son of Nun among them:

 

 GETTING INTO GOD’S WORD:

      It never dawned on me what was going on when I was a little boy. I always just saw my mom scooping food on mine and my sister’s plate. I was not really paying attention to mom and dad eating, I was hungry and all I cared about was me! However, as I got older I noticed that my mom would always stay busy helping us get our food and moving food from the stove to the table, until everyone had something on their plate. Then she would sit down and get her servings. There was always enough, but mom always made sure everyone else was fed first. It was not a self-sacrificing or self-aggrandizing effort. She just genuinely cared for others first.

 

      Joshua has been busy over the last few chapters. He has been making sure that each and every tribe of Israel had received all that they needed and what was awarded by God. I really do not think He was putting himself last as some self-sacrificing or a “look at how humble I am,” sort of gesture. I believe he cared for those people and wanted to make sure everyone was taken care of. Yet we find when it was all said and done, the Lord had kept a certain area set aside just for Joshua. It was the area he originally wanted. In the New Testament Jesus mentions this same characteristic to the disciples when He said in Matthew 19:30, “But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.” If we put others first, God will watch over us. 

 

 GETTING GOD’S WORD INTO ME:

      Jesus had that attitude toward us. Paul wrote of it in Phil. 2:5 when He said; “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:” Jesus put us first when took our sin upon Himself. Then it says in vs 9 that God highly exalted Him. 

 

How might you put others first today?