Joshua 24:11-15
Choices are part of our daily lives from the moment we open our eyes to the moment we close our eyes in the evening. We are continuously and constantly making choices.
Deciding what to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Walking the dog or watching television.
Answering a phone call that you think is offering you a car warranty or allowing it go to voicemail. (This has become my routine about four times each day. Apparently this is a big business!)
Keeping your mouth shut or speaking words that are not helpful or beneficial.
Starting your day by praying or by turning on the news.
Our days are a constant battle of the flesh. Choices. King Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes 1:9 – What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. From Genesis 3 until now we see the choices former generations have made, but somehow we seem to disconnect ourselves from those choices. We tend to think of ourselves as different or more advanced.
We are technologically more advanced than former generations that is true, but statistics show we are far less intelligent. That should make us pause. We have so much information literally at our fingertips but we are less intelligent. I think the reason is quite complex and not the result of one cultural failure, but much of it comes down to our choices.
Choices.
At the end of the book of Joshua, we see a leader “going the way of all the earth” (Joshua 23:14), so he assembled the tribes of Israel to give them final warnings about their choices. He knew these people well. He knew their hearts, their desires and had seen their failings and successes over his entire life. Joshua was soon to pass on the mantle of leadership after living 110 years while courageously serving the Lord and leading the people into the land flowing with milk and honey. Joshua needed the people to know how important their choices would become when he would no longer be there to lead them. His words of wisdom and warning are the same words we need to hear thousands of years later.
“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Choose this day whom you will serve!
Have you allowed the world to creep in and draw your attention to other gods – politics, prosperity, safety, comfort, entertainment, etc…
I have at times.
We hear the constant drumbeat of the world trying to pull us away to these idols. That drumbeat begins the moment we open our eyes and a choice has to be made.
Choose this day whom you will serve.
Whom or what are you serving today? If you answer that question honestly, I would imagine there are some idols you need to destroy just like the Israelites.
The historical books of the Old Testament give us a look at the grace of God continuously shown to His disobedient people. He reminded them ad nauseam to turn back to Him, destroy all idols, follow His ways, be a people set apart as His people. Can you relate to the people of Israel who heard these words?
Choose this day whom you will serve.
Joshua made the choice and shared it with the Israelites-
“As for me and my house, we will worship Yahweh.”
This scripture is on a plaque in the foyer of my house. I see it constantly, but because of its familiarity I don’t always read it, digest it and meditate on it. Today, with a keyboard, cup of coffee in hand and a Bible next to me, I chose to read it and allowed the Word of God to change my heart this morning. I put down the cell phone that beckons like a mythological siren most mornings and I opened the Word. As for me this morning, I will worship the Lord and put down the idols of this world. I am choosing Him over them. Each morning is a battle of choices, but joy comes in the morning when we seek Him with our whole hearts.
Choices matter. They have consequences. They can bring life or death; joy or sorrow.
Whom are you choosing this day to serve?