Joshua 24:14-15 “Now therefore revere the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve … but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua had just completed a great military campaign which brought the Israelites into the promised land of Canaan. Joshua reminded the Israelites of the amazing journey in the wilderness that had brought them there. After 40 years of wandering and finally having a bed to rest their weary heads on, a place to actually call home, you would have thought that the Israelites would have been sold-out 100% to God, right? I mean, after all, they are settled in the land flowing with milk and honey.
Joshua implores the Israelites to set aside once and for all other idols. The people rally around Joshua’s creed and collectively promise to always and only serve the Lord and never to worship idols again.
And then they all live happily ever after….
Or so, we would have hoped.
But unfortunately, the people fell away. When we’re not careful, we fall away too. “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” is something you expect Christians to proclaim. But why are the lives of so-called Christians so hard to distinguish from unbelievers? Usually it’s because the “choose this day” part is missing.
Is God asking you to do something today that you are ignoring? If so, what?
We can easily get so caught up in this world. The laundry, school work, extracurricular activities and the list goes on and on of things pulling us away. How often do we wake up, jump out of bed, ready to attack our day (or maybe it takes a cup of jo)? But we often set out on our day with an agenda of what we want to do. We have a list of things that have to get done. Maybe we feel accomplished when we cross things off of our “to do’s.”
Somehow we value tasks, whether big or small, more than we value spending time with God.
Let’s face it: serving God takes times. Developing a relationship with Him takes discipline. Living full heartedly for Him takes devotion.