Choosing Life

"...But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living." ~Joshua

Here the conquerors of thirty kingdoms were living in houses they didn't build and eating food they didn't plant in a land that was handed to them and they were still wishy-washy about believing and serving the God that made it possible. They had watched the waters of the River part to let them pass and heard the roar as the rock-walls of Jericho tumbled before them and they were still tempted to run back to the worthless idols of those people. It's so easy for me to scoff and say I would never do that! It's so easy to see others through the lens of judgment without turning the magnifying glass on myself. "Choose for YOURSELVES..." I choose for myself every day who I will serve. Everyone does.

I'm ashamed to say that there have been days when serving the Lord has seemed undesirable to me. I've looked at the choice between serving Jesus, the gods of my forefathers or the gods of the country I live in and weighed the advantages of serving each. Every day I get up I have this choice to make. Every day is "this day". It's those days that serving the Lord seems undesirable that I go back and recount all the things that God has done for me. It is in the light of his love that this choice becomes ludicrous. Of course, I'll serve the Lord! Only in Jesus is there eternal life. Only through his Spirit is there sweet fellowship with others.

"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did." ~Holy Spirit