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"Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed. But just as every good promise of the Lord your God has come true, so the Lord will bring on you all the evil he has threatened, until he has destroyed you from this good land he has given you. If you violate the covenant of the Lord you God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the Lord's anger will burn against you, and you will quickly persih from the good land he has given you." Twice in these verses Joshua refers to the land to become Israel as good land. Often we tend to look with less appreciation on the gifts we are given then they deserve. We are quickly coming up to the holiday season and many people will exchage gifts with others in a show of love and friendship. Many will like the gift and the put it on a shelf or in a closet and forget about it. The gift then becomes useless to us. Joshua reminds the people that God's gift is not useless and should not be taken for granted. It is good and they are required by God to show their appreciation by following his commands. If they failed in this they would lose the good land and suffer the Lord's anger. God does not give us gifts to put aside and store away. He wants us to use them and show our appriation to him for the gifts. Just as the people in Joshua recieved land from God we too are promised an inheritance in a good land. God does require us to follow his guidlines and has outlined the consequences for failure to do so one of wich is to lose the chance to be in that good land. In the days and weeks to come we should remeber that we are given all good things for a reason and show true appreciation for them. Always keeping God and his great gifts foremost in our minds.
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