3-18-2017

Good Morning All,

      Joshua 24:15; “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.”  That is pretty harsh, after all we like to check things out; take it for a test drive, look at Carfax, check the soil maps, check prices at other stores; we need time to make big decisions.  While that may seem like a reasonable approach, it can also be foolish.

        Along with all the usual comments like “be sure your family knows you love them”; “Don’t leave on an angry word”; “don’t put off calling a friend or a loved one that is far away” comes one more word of wise counsel from our verse today, “Choose this day whom you will serve.”  The importance of your faith, right now, is more critical than we ever know.

        Many people have the mistaken idea that they have time on their side.  They believe that they can wait to hear God’s call.   “I’ll worry about that when I’m older.”  “There is plenty of time for that church stuff later.”  We all like to believe that we are all going to live to a ripe old age and have time to know that our death is coming.  The truth is we never know what day death will come to us.  We need to choose today because we may not have tomorrow.

    Yet there is another reason we need to hear the call of the Holy Spirit.  In this chapter of Joshua, the Israelites are having a covenant ceremony.  In this ceremony, Joshua recalled all that the Lord God had done for the Israelites and how He had blessed them.  God gives those same blessings to His people today.  We are showered with His love; receive His comfort, a share in His eternal reward.  All this gives us hope, a hope for life everlasting.  We receive this today when we listen to the Spirit call us to faith today.  We might have 20, 30 or even 80 more years of life but why live them outside of God’s umbrella of love?  Why take on the devil all by our self when Jesus has promised to do this battle for us? 

     We run the risk of dying outside of faith and we live a life of difficulty, struggling with all the battle of this world, holding all the challenges we will face by our own hands and backs rather than turning all these over to God.  Choose today whom you will serve, trust God’s promise to give you hope today and eternal life tomorrow or maybe later today.

Father, we are slow to see your grace in our life.  We like to see our life through our eyes and on our terms rather than trusting you.  Bring us closer to you that we may proclaim you as our God this day and forevermore. Move us to speak with love to those around us.  Protect us from the evil one and let your light shine through us. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret