Above all, be strong and very courageous to carefully observe 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 HCSB
Our church has a school with over 200 kindergarten through eighth grade students. Each morning they gather for a chapel service. They pledge allegiance to the American flag, the Christian flag, and the Bible. After a song they have a short devotional thought that is usually led by one of the teachers or one of the ministers at the church. I had the privilege of leading chapel this morning. The students have been going through the Ten Commandments. I began my devotional talking about the rules of football, the rules of the road, and the rules that parents have at home. Most, if not all of the rules are designed to protect us and to keep us from getting hurt. God's laws or rules are designed to protect us from harm.
The second key to success is to obey God's laws. God instructs Joshua to carefully observe the whole instruction. What if we only followed part of the rules for football? There would not be any order. What if we only obeyed some of the rules of the road? People would obviously get hurt in accidents. To be successful we must not wander off of the road either to the right or left. We must stay on the straight and narrow road of obeying God's commandments and rules. They are designed to give us success wherever we go.
Challenge: Have you wandered off of the road? Are you only partially obeying God's laws? If you want to be successful you must first be strong and courageous and secondly, you must obey God's laws. Tomorrow we will look at the third key to success.