“Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may be successful wherever you go.  This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it.  For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful.” – Joshua 1: 7-8

In the book of Joshua, God provides a story of the successful life of integrity, as the Hebrews entered the Promised Land.  It would do us good as Christian lawyers to learn some of the same valuable lessons about having a successful life in the law. For the rest of 2015, we are covering six lessons from Joshua.

Lesson #4 – Community (Again?!)

Community is at the heart of professional integrity in the lawyer’s life (see the September 24 devotional for more). Even the seemingly ordinary struggles of life are played out on the stage set by Providence with the company of players he gives us. 

Joshua dedicates the bulk of nine full chapters to the division of the land.  As God told them many times, he has given them cities that they did not build, with vineyards they did not plant, in a land flowing with milk and honey. The land was apportioned in community—the first community in God’s work—families. As he began in the garden of Eden with a task for Adam’s family, he continues his work with his people through the family. The land was apportioned by tribes and sub-divided according to clan as well.  God carries out his work through community.

While family was the first unit, established and ordained by God, the primary community through which God works—using families, here, too—is the church, the body of Christ. Success will not come except as part of His body, in whatever we do. There is no such thing as an individual Christian. Who we are as lawyers must be an extension of who we are at home and at church, and not the other way around.

How is your community? Are you taking time to be a part of it? And if not, are you using work as an excuse? And if you are in good community, is it time to invite someone in who needs it?

CLS Prayer

Lord, Thank you for the community you have called around me. Thank you for home, family, work, church, and friends. Remind me daily of the blessing they are to me, through good times and bad. Amen.

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(Adapted from Redeeming Law by Michael Schutt)