Summer At Sea: Week 5 Day 5

Joshua 4:19-24

19 On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. 20 And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan. 21 He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 22 tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ 23 For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. 24 He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.”

Memorial Day, a day we remember those who served and lost their lives for our country. Fireworks on the 4th of July, a remembrance of our freedom. Trophies, a symbol of a victory. Twelve stones stacked at Gilgal, a remembrance of the whole nation of Israel crossing the Jordan on dry ground to enter the Promised Land. 

The stones in this passage are important because they symbolize that God keeps all of His promises. God calls Christians to do and remember certain things as well. The Lord’s Supper is a time of remembrance of His life that He freely gave through His death on the cross to cover the sins of the world, so that when we believe in Him we can live with Him for eternity in Heaven. We are called to baptism, the symbol that we died, were buried, and rose again with Christ; we have a new life in Him. Baptism is our public statement to the world that we are His child. God keeps all His promises to us. 

Are we sharing the good news of those promises with others? How are you remembering what Christ has done for you? What steps are you taking to make sure others around you know Jesus Christ and the good news of the Gospel? If the promise of Heaven is true, are you living in a way that prepares you for it?