Another lesson for us to learn from Caleb is that he followed God wholeheartedly. If we consider the place of Joshua 14:1–15, then this is probably the primary lesson we are to learn from Caleb and this chapter. In Joshua 13:1–33 the Levites were meant to be an example of wholehearted devotion to God. They do not receive any land because the Lord is their portion—relationship with God is primary and land is simply a means to that end. In Caleb we find a man who lived with that conviction. Looking at Joshua 14:8–9 and Joshua 14:14, there is a repeated emphasis on how Caleb wholeheartedly followed the Lord.

Throughout his life, Caleb was devoted to God. He was not perfectly obedient, but he exemplified the kind of response that God wants from his people. He exemplified the only proper response to God’s promises which is total devotion. Whether he was in his twenties, forties, or his eighties, the focus of his life was doing what God commanded and pleasing the Lord. He did not wait to begin obedience when he finished school. He did not allow his studies to stop him from serving in God’s church. He did not use his children as an excuse for absence at worship or his old age as a reason for sitting back and allowing others to take over. As we saw earlier, he knew what God had promised to give him, he believed those promises, and he lived in the light of them.

Caleb’s example is a real challenge to us. We struggle in living a Christian life. We do not find it easy to follow God with everything we have. We put limits in place that prevent us from leaving our comfort zone or making radical changes. Paying a mortgage, raising children, visiting family, saving for retirement—those are all good things but they are not the ultimate. Obedience to God comes before every single one of them. The temptation to shape our lives according to the expectations of the world rather than the promises of God will never disappear.

As we consider Caleb's example, let us emulate him even as he points us to Christ. Caleb was so convinced of God’s promises that he truly allowed his whole life to be shaped by them. And that is exactly what God the Holy Spirit is hoping to do for us as we read through these lists in Joshua. He wants us to be fully convinced of the reality of life in the new creation so that we will be fully devoted to God in the here and now. Following the Lord no matter the cost.

Let us also remember that as we strive to obey our Lord, we do not do so in order to earn our place in his new world. We obey because Christ our Saviour bore our sins on his body so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. We obey because Christ has gathered us to himself through faith. We obey because God is our portion and we belong to him. We obey because the Lord our God is gloriously faithful to his promises, because he works in us by his Spirit, because he wants us to be devoted to him, because life in this world is fleeting whereas life in the hereafter will endure forever.