to be like Caleb...

Numbers 14:24 But my servant Caleb—this is a different story. He has a different spirit; he follows me passionately. I'll bring him into the land that he scouted and his children will inherit it.

Whoa! This passage just hit me square in the face. What an impressive way for Caleb to be remembered--a man who wholly followed the Lord God of Israel. This is in the Bible; therefore, it's God's opinion of Caleb.

Obedience to the Lord characterized his life. We see him standing up for truth despite fear when sent as a spy to check out Canaan, even when 10/11 of the rest caved into their unbelief. We see him following God for forty years in the wilderness waiting for God's timing for Israel to finally enter the land. We see him faithfully following the Lord under Joshua's leadership, fighting to take the land of promise as a possession. We see him (at 85 years old!) fighting to claim his given inheritance from the giants who lived there.

This man was not passive; he was not content to just meander through life like a wayward stream. Caleb knew God, and sought to live a life of faith practiced through obedience to the Lord. He wholly followed God, and God blessed his obedience.

Lately, I've been yearning for this kind of intense passion and obedience to be true in my own life.... I'm longing to burn out instead of rust out, to take radical steps of faith to follow the Lord instead of living in a cozy bubble of comfort.

God's call certainly is a radical one: to follow Him above all else, to live in full submission to Christ and His will. I want that to characterize my life, don't you? I want to know with certainty, like Caleb did, that I have "followed the Lord fully" and that I've left it all on the field. I want to live a life of passion and action rather than reservation.

Let's follow the Lord fully together. Anyone with me?

"Resolved : that all men should live for the glory of God.
Resolved second : that whether others do or not, I will."
::: Jonathan Edwards