Mindset 2 – someone do it for, I don’t want the responsibility
Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying, 2 Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.
Our society today has been plagued with the idea of “someone else” doing what needs to be accomplished and then it falls upon those who work most to do what should be shared by the many. The principle in the church is usually that twenty percent of the people do eighty percent of the work. I am glad that is not true in all churches but too often it is true in churches today.
This mindset is prevalent today because we have such a large welfare class in the population. The rules and guidelines that are required to receive “free” money and benefits have brought this upon us. There are presently nine states that have more people on welfare than are working and soon that number will increase unless something changes in the leadership of this country.
People have been brought to the point that they feel it is their right to be handed everything and they do not have to work or do anything for it. We see this mentality in the looting that occurred during the riots in cities across the land. People somehow cannot realize “nothing is free” – someone has paid for it. Those who scramble to get all they can do not care who pays for it as long as it is not they who are paying. This mindset blends right into the criminal system as well – don’t blame me, it wasn’t my fault, they should not have tried to keep me from stealing from them.
In the text, God instructs Joshua to take over the leadership of Israel after the death of Moses. In essence, God tells Joshua, “Don’t boo hoo around, Moses is dead and now you’re the leader, get up and do the job.” Joshua had prepared himself unknowingly before this by staying close to Moses when he met with God and now the mantle has fallen upon him. Before, he heard of the people’s whining and complaining to Moses about their troubles, but now they would whine and complain to him. But Joshua did not flinch at the task, he believed God when He said He would be with him as He had been with Moses. He accepted the challenge and did not ask for another to do the job.
This mindset can affect Christians as well. Once they receive Christ as Savior they think they do not need to do any more. They just go on trying to “wing it” on their own. They do not read the Bible or pray much (except when things go wrong) – they want someone else to do all that for them. They think they cannot understand the Bible (they didn’t before being saved, why should they now) and so they want to be “spoon fed” with God’s word. Often they simply refuse to read, and study because it involves work.
The Bible can be overwhelming, if you start out wrong and at the wrong place. Understanding the basis of God’s plan and work requires a working knowledge of the entire Bible. But it in no way excuses people from study and reading and then seeking God for insights for living and growing. Paul says, “work out you own salvation”; he did not say work for, but now that you are saved, work it out. This means reading and studying the Scriptures in order to grow and become spiritually mature.
No one is able to completely comprehend the Bible entirely because it was written by an infinite God, so the understanding and knowledge is infinite. And finite beings are not able to understand infinity. But we read and study and pray and work together in order to help each other grow and mature in our spiritual lives.
Those who want others to do for them have a large support group in the “left movement” in this country; but God desires us to be workers and not moochers.