{"id":14398,"date":"2007-07-30T13:58:14","date_gmt":"2007-07-30T13:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/2007\/07\/30\/day4\/"},"modified":"2007-07-30T13:58:14","modified_gmt":"2007-07-30T13:58:14","slug":"day4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/day4\/","title":{"rendered":"Last Words"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

“Now fear the lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the lord. But if serving the lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the lord.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

“Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the lord, the God of Israel.” And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the lord our God and obey him.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Character Check<\/strong>\n>How do my current priorities line up with what I say is important?<\/p>\n \n

In Business Terms<\/strong>\nMy most difficult decision was to quit accepting speaking engagements, regardless of how influential or interesting the setting. I reached this decision in 1977 after I began to feel that I was not at home with my family as much as I should be.<\/p>\n\n

I had never abandoned my wife and children, but most speaking commitments occur on weekends-prime family time. I began to agonize over the contradiction: The Lord had given me a message about the family I wanted to convey, but how could I do it without sacrificing mine?<\/p>\n\n

The dilemma continued for more than a year. Finally, a day came when a decision had to be made. Auditoriums had to be scheduled for the following year, and the booking deadline had arrived. One evening, we prayed together as a family and asked the Lord to make the decision for us. Then we went to bed. Shirley and I decided to read for a while. I picked up a book, and after about twenty pages, I came across a reference to the eighteenth chapter of Exodus, where Moses is visited by his father-in-law, Jethro, who is concerned because Moses was accepting too many responsibilities. As I read the first verse, the Lord seemed to say, “This is your answer.”<\/p>\n\n

—James Dobson<\/p>\n\n

Something to Think About<\/strong>\nThink of only three things—God, your family and the Green Bay Packers—in that order.\n– Vince Lombardi<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Now fear the lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the lord. But if serving the lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"tax_ctp_authors":[1792],"tax_ctp_books":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[154],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[131],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[156],"tax_ctp_tags":[3430,3535,3640,4688,4708,4953,5042,5046],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-14398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-james-dobson","tax_publications-leadership-journal","tax_ctp_tags-application","tax_ctp_tags-busyness","tax_ctp_tags-commitment","tax_ctp_tags-preaching","tax_ctp_tags-priorities","tax_ctp_tags-service","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-direction","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-formation"],"acf":{"scripture_references":null},"yoast_head":"\nLast 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