The Christian Heritage

And Moses said to Joshua, "Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand." Exodus 17:9

The enemies were around and Moses been the leader of the nation of Israel gave Joshua an instruction to choose men to go and fight the enemies. Moses did not join in the physical battle, he went up a hill with Aaron and Hur, but he was much also into the battle though not physically. Moses went up the hill to pray for the battle going down. He stood in the gap and the position he took that day was a determinant factor for the victory that day.

As I read the account of this battle, the whole event portrayed the Christian life to me. I see a lot of Christians who simply take life from a physical standpoint. They are all about strategy, planning, career etc, and it all ends there. They see their progress in life largely as a product of their own human effort. They just believe if you put in the required efforts alone, all will be fine. This has worked for them and they also preach the same to others.

Some even go to the extent of talking down on other Christians who might not appear to be as successful as they are but more religious. They see other’s religiosity as the reason they are at that present position in life. They forget there are people more successful than they are who are very spiritual too. They have separated their faith from every other area of their life. Sometimes, it so happens that someone has built a successful career without any serious spiritual commitment and then see no reason to now bring their faith into it.

This kind of Christians remind me of how Joshua must have fought in the battle with all his might, skill and expertise. However we can see that victory didn’t come to them solely because they fought well or outnumbered their enemies. Victory was theirs because there was a man of prayer up the hill interceding for them. Joshua would have made a great mistake that day if he assumed his might alone brought the victory. Our Christian heritage will always be useful at whatever stage we find ourselves in life.

As Christians in a changing world, we mustn’t lose touch with our spiritual heritage as we sojourn this world. While it is good to have all the necessary qualifications on the job, it is better when we are also armed spiritually on the job. Our spiritual heritage is our cutting edge as we navigate this world. When all the known human strategies fail us, we can withdraw spiritual resources from heaven’s bank. We shouldn’t wait till all our plans go south before we realize that there is a God in heaven who is always with us. Never talk down on others spirituality today because it might just be what will save you tomorrow.