I Will Serve the Lord
December 18, 2010
“Now fear the LORD and serve Him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.
-Joshua 24:14-15
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I read this passage this morning before going to church. By way of background, Joshua is giving the Israelites his final charge. He had accomplished the mission God had given Him of leading the People of Israel out of the dessert and into the Promised Land. He has been there every step of the way since the Israelites were in slavery in Egypt, to the time God delivered them from bondage through His servant Moses. He was a witness of the mighty hand of God parting the Red Sea, provided food and water for His people, going before them defeating their enemies, and His glorious, awful presence on Mount Sinai. He also watched as the Children of Israel turned from the LORD again and again, faithless to the covenant of their God when they made and worshiped the golden calf, filled with grumbling and complaining to the God who had taken pit on them, stubborn and rebellious to shrink back from entering the land of Canaan because of fear, and arrogant and obstinate to disobey the LORD over and over again.
Joshua knew these people. So he gave them a charge that they must make a decision whom they would serve. They could not serve YAHWEH, the One True God, as well as all the other gods they had served and the people around them served. They had to choose whom they would serve, love, worship, honor, and cherish. As for Joshua, his mind was made up…He was going to serve the LORD.
As I meditate on this passage, I realize that I should not be so quick to gloss over Joshua’s charge to the Israelites, failing to ask myself the same question. True, I do not live in a society that bows down to images of gold and silver and stone; but I do live among people who worship themselves, they worship the gods of comfort and ease, the gods of wealth and success, and the gods of pleasure and sex. I live in a world where Christians join right in chasing after the “American Dream”, pursuing and living for the same things that this world is, and finding God to be quite boring and old fashioned.
Well, I have a choice. Will I join in with this world and go along with them serving false gods? Will I settle for cheap Christianity and just go through the motions of going to church and wearing the religious mask? Or will I serve the Lord?
My heart answers with everything in me, “I WILL SERVE THE LORD!”
December 18, 2010
“Now fear the LORD and serve Him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.
-Joshua 24:14-15
~
I read this passage this morning before going to church. By way of background, Joshua is giving the Israelites his final charge. He had accomplished the mission God had given Him of leading the People of Israel out of the dessert and into the Promised Land. He has been there every step of the way since the Israelites were in slavery in Egypt, to the time God delivered them from bondage through His servant Moses. He was a witness of the mighty hand of God parting the Red Sea, provided food and water for His people, going before them defeating their enemies, and His glorious, awful presence on Mount Sinai. He also watched as the Children of Israel turned from the LORD again and again, faithless to the covenant of their God when they made and worshiped the golden calf, filled with grumbling and complaining to the God who had taken pit on them, stubborn and rebellious to shrink back from entering the land of Canaan because of fear, and arrogant and obstinate to disobey the LORD over and over again.
Joshua knew these people. So he gave them a charge that they must make a decision whom they would serve. They could not serve YAHWEH, the One True God, as well as all the other gods they had served and the people around them served. They had to choose whom they would serve, love, worship, honor, and cherish. As for Joshua, his mind was made up…He was going to serve the LORD.
As I meditate on this passage, I realize that I should not be so quick to gloss over Joshua’s charge to the Israelites, failing to ask myself the same question. True, I do not live in a society that bows down to images of gold and silver and stone; but I do live among people who worship themselves, they worship the gods of comfort and ease, the gods of wealth and success, and the gods of pleasure and sex. I live in a world where Christians join right in chasing after the “American Dream”, pursuing and living for the same things that this world is, and finding God to be quite boring and old fashioned.
Well, I have a choice. Will I join in with this world and go along with them serving false gods? Will I settle for cheap Christianity and just go through the motions of going to church and wearing the religious mask? Or will I serve the Lord?
My heart answers with everything in me, “I WILL SERVE THE LORD!”
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