You've got to love the story about Jephthah in Judges 11. We're told he was a mighty warrior who had two strikes against him because he was born to a prostitute and run off by his brothers. But he makes the best of it, falling in with a group of adventurers who make Jephthah their leader. And later his own people take him back as their leader too. There is something that acknowledges a warrior spirit - people run to warriors when the battle is on!

We, like Jephthah, are warriors. Too many of us have made peace with a place in life that is at odds with our values. We call ourselves "seeker-sensitive" and sometimes end up looking more like the seekers than they look like us. I find the following eight applications for our lives from the passage. It helps me understand why God wants us to help fight for the Kingdom Jesus talked so much about. And of course, the fighting is what Paul calls "the good fight" as ministers charged with reconciling man to God.

Practical application from Judges 11

  1. We like Jephthah are illegitimate, born into evil on this planet.
  2. We've been disinherited.
  3. We're foreigners living in a strange land.
  4. There are other adventurers like us looking for leadership.
  5. We need to lead the fight against a common enemy.
  6. We're part of a larger, older story wherein God himself reinstated our inheritance.
  7. In the Lord's power we will conquer.
  8. Our victories will be costly.