Wholly committed

This week I’ve been working through a Bible plan with my son called Chasing Failure.
The title caught my attention, so I chose it for our plan.
While digging in this week, we landed in one of my favorite books in the Bible, Joshua. And, if you can imagine, I noticed a word in the scriptures I’ve never seen before. Let me show you.
5 “No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. I will be with you, just as I was with Moses. I will not leave you or abandon you.
6 “Be strong and courageous, for you will distribute the land I swore to their ancestors to give them as an inheritance.
7 “Above all, be strong and very courageous to observe carefully the whole instruction my servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or the left, so that you will have success wherever you go.” — Joshua 1:5-7 (CSB)
So, just to catch you up to speed. Moses has passed away, and God appoints Joshua to lead the Israelites.
And so in these scriptures, God is trying to build up and encourage Joshua that with God he will accomplish all God has called him to. With that in mind, let’s look again at verse seven.
“Above all, be strong and very courageous to observe carefully the whole instruction my servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or the left, so that you will have success wherever you go.” —Joshua 1:7
The words whole instruction jumped right out of the plan and into my heart.
It got me thinking about my faith walk and how well I follow God’s whole instruction when he speaks to me.
Do I keep on the path he’s leading me down, or do I veer to the right or left a little? Do you?
When you bake a cake, do you observe the whole instructions? Do you veer a little from the recipe?
What I notice is that if I do my own thing while baking a cake, I usually end up disappointed with the end result. My cake could be delicious IF I followed the whole instructions and didn’t try to veer away from the recipe. Isn’t this us in our faith walk?
See what I think happens is we get all excited when God gives us instruction to do something great, but in our excitement we neglect his leading and often end up trying to lead ourselves.
We get too dependent on what we can control and end up playing God.
But friend, we are not God.
Or, for some of us, it’s the opposite.
We hear his instruction and get frustrated at what he’s asking of us or speaking to us about, and we take off in any other direction but the right one. We run right and dodge left, running around like Ace Ventura with darts flying at him. (Side note: if you got the movie reference I need to know. We are officially new best friends)
But, we will not become successful by following part of God’s instruction or by veering away from God’s voice.
We can’t be strong and courageous and neglect God’s instruction. Or acknowledge his instruction, but only follow him part way.
We need to commit to him and his ways if we hope to find success in the things he’s compelling us to do. Even the things we’d rather run from. We can be successful if we follow his whole instruction and commit wholly to him.
Joshua had great success as a leader. One of the greatest leaders in history. But, he didn’t become successful by following God half way. He went all in; he listened and learned.
And so can you. Following Jesus isn’t following if it’s half hearted, is it?
If we’re honest, we would agree that sitting on the fence in your faith walk will only leave you with a splinter in your rear.
It’s time we hop of the fence and go all in! Commit to the Lord wholly and to his instruction, and you will see great success.
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Cassie Downs, formerly of the Ellsinore area, is a speaker, author of Chasing Jesus, a 60 day devotional, and founder of Everyday Jesus Ministry. Connect with Cassie on Facebook, Instagram, or online at cassiedowns.com.