Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How to Build a Cathedral | Historical Books | Joshua 24:1-13

Episode Date: February 6, 2025

Every human sees themself in a story. What story are you living in? In today's episode, Patrick shares how Joshua 24:1-13 encourages us to see our life as a part of the bigger story God is telling. Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Joshua 24:1-13

Welcome to 10 minute Bible talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. There's an old story of two men working in a quarry to cut rectangular blocks of marble. A visitor walks past the first quarryman and asks, what are you doing? The quarryman looked up at him with an exhausted frustration and said, what does it look like I'm doing? I'm cutting marble. The visitor continued on and found the second quarryman. again he asked what are you doing the quarryman looked up at him with sincere joy and said i'm building a cathedral what's the difference between the two quarrymen the two were doing the exact same thing but one did his work as a back-breaking labor and the other's a joyful task the difference wasn't merely in their demeanor it's how they framed and understood the task itself one saw only the task in front of him but the other saw his task as part of the other saw his task as part of the matter of the difference

of a grand story. You see, it doesn't just take years to build a cathedral. It takes generations. A cathedral is a story told by thousands of people across centuries. The second man who saw the story, he was building a cathedral. He took joy in his work as a result of seeing his life in that story. But the man who could only see his own story and his own toil and his own life, well, he took no joy in his task at all. Entire books have been written exploring what sets apart humans from other animals. And of course, there's plenty of interesting answers out there, but this is the one I find most compelling. We are the only animals that tell stories. Dogs don't try to make sense of their lives by fitting themselves into a story. They couldn't

even tell you the story of their own life. But every human can tell his own story. Every human sees himself in a story. For example, in the modern West, we believe the stories of progress and self-actualization. Let's look at progress. We tend to believe that what will come will be better than what was before. We look on the people of the past is backwards. Sometimes we even call them barbarous.

We trust that if we work together, the future is always going to be brighter than the past. But if you went in a time machine to almost any other time, you'd find that most humans believed the opposite. They didn't believe in the evolution of humanity and human society, but the devolution of human society. They assumed that what came before was probably better than what is to come because things

were going south. You even see some of this in the Bible. It starts in a paradise and then it shows how humanity devolved from its paradisal beginnings into a violent, malcontented group of people. And even more powerful story that we see ourselves in today is the story of self-actualization. This story says that humans are fundamental. immensely good. The problem is that we live in a society that strips us of that good. It abuses us, it hams us in with its cultural expectations, it oppresses us with injustice, and doesn't give us

what we need to survive. Thus, if we just dealt with those societal problems, everybody would be well adjusted. We'd unleash all of our inner goodness. That means that if you live in that story, the story of self-actualization, you'll probably believe that the greatest good out there is self-care, self-actualization, and authenticity. After all, if your inner self is good, then living a good life is pretty simple. You just need to take care of yourself and set yourself free from everyone's expectations and try to live authentically, pursue whatever you desire. Now, if you got into a time machine again and you went to a different time, you'd find a very different story. Ancient societies believe that good was found when individuals set aside their personal interest for the sake of the group.

This is why they spoke of honor and tradition. An honorable person did what was right no matter what, and found joy in laying down his life for the many. Do you know what story you are living in? My point here isn't that modern stories are bad and ancient stories are good. My point is that we live in stories. The problem is that for most of us, we've never stopped to even notice that we're living in a story at all. We don't realize that cultural narratives about what a good life entails have actually shaped a lot of our decisions, from our schooling to our relationships, to our possessions, to our understanding of ourselves. And so I think it's quite possible that we become a lot like the first quarrymen. We're doing what we do, but we don't see the cathedral that God is building

through us. Instead, we get fixated on me and my small concerns and my small journey toward being the best me. Unfortunately, the story of progress and self-actualization may sound good, but they both lead to a poor life. It's hard to see how our work and even many of our relationships play into the journey toward authenticity. This is why people quit good jobs and cut off relationships they deem toxic or hard, because they're living in the self-actualization story. So again, I ask, do you know what story you're living in? Because we all need reminders of our story. In Joshua 24, Joshua renews Israel's covenant with God. But here's what's interesting.

He doesn't start with the covenant promises. Instead, he starts with Israel's story. It's as though he realized that as important as the covenant was, the people wouldn't be able to live out the covenant if they forgot the story of where they'd been and the story of where God was taking them. He wanted them to know that they were building a cathedral so that their daily lives wouldn't be humdrum meaninglessness.

He wanted them to know their story, so their lives would be full of the grandeur of God. He says this to the people in Joshua 24, verse 2. Joshua said to all the people, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says. Long ago, your ancestors, including Tara, the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshipped other gods. But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac, and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Sierra to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt. Then I sent Moses and Aaron,

and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out. When I brought your people out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen as far as the Red Sea. But they cried to the Lord for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians. He brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time. Joshua is telling the people that their story is a story of God fulfilling his promises to their ancestors. It's also the story of redemption. They were once slaves in Egypt, but by God's hand they were rescued and brought into his presence. And this meant that their current story was a story of freedom.

in God's presence. As the rescued people of God, they were being invited to join his cosmic mission, to rescue the world from sin, and to restore the world to his original purposes. Your story is part of their story. But you, unlike those Israelites, you know the climax. You know that Jesus came to rescue the lost, people like you. And you know that he promises to return and to make all things new. Is that the story of your life? The story of a sinner saved by God? grace, the story of a builder constructing God's future, your life has meaning not only because you've been rescued, not only because you're living by grace, but also because Jesus said that God is bringing his kingdom on earth as in heaven through your life and through your work.

So someone asks you, what are you doing? Don't just say you're pushing papers or living your life. Say that you're building a cathedral, an eternal dwelling place for God and his followers. Thank you.