7-11-2023

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,” not a very Lutheran concept.  But the Bible often gives us this stark concept.  In one of the Church’s earliest catechisms, the Didache, begins with this sentence: “There are two ways, one life and one death, and there is a great difference between the two ways.”  It doesn’t get much plainer than that.  We walk down a road and there are two paths: one to the left and one to the right.  We get to choose.  Throughout the whole Bible, this concept is restated.

    Moses told the people this at Sinai.  He told them to remember God or face the loss of the land that God had promised them.  Joshua told them the same thing.  Samuel told them the same thing.  Isaiah and Jeremiah did; you get the picture.  The people chose and they chose wrong.

    Jesus tells us basically the same thing when he says that man cannot serve two masters.  He speaks of money and God.  We can see that as our selfish worldly wants and lusts.  We may not think we are serving money but when we always want more and more and are never happy with what we have; we are serving money.  We are serving that selfish, lustful, sinful desire to be our own God.  The Apostle John tells us the same thing when he speaks of the way of the light and the way of darkness.  We have a choice, and we all make it.  Joshua said,” Choose you today.” We must choose between receiving Jesus as our Savior and God as the ultimate source of security and identity or we choose ourselves to fill that role.

    We can choose to be God.  We can figure out how to live eternally in happiness and certainty, but we really aren’t that smart are we?  We can take the responsibility for making those around us care for us or desire to be with us, but we aren’t that talented, are we?  We spend a lot of time convincing ourselves that we are completely in control of every situation that arises; we are smart enough, rich enough or powerful enough to deal with anything.  The truth is we are carrying warm jello in our open hands, and it is running all over the place.

    Or we can simply choose to let God be God.  We can simply trust in his promise to provide, as he always has.  We simply trust his love to continue as it always has.  We simply trust the path that God has placed us on instead of always trying to run away to the other path.  We can live in faith, or we can live in fear and loathing.  We can live in the arms of God’s grace, or we can continually fight and oppose him.  We do get to choose; so, choose.

Dearest Father, you continually come to us choosing us as your children.  Give us the strength of faith to choose you.  Keep us strong in faith to you that we may exist in your kingdom forever.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret