Creator, Father, King #102

As for me and my family, we will serve the LORD.

LET’S BRIEFLY REVIEW SOME important choices you might have to make in life:

• Getting a closer look at a lion pride by approaching it in a gazelle costume OR staying in the enclosed safari SUV.
• Going spelunking in an active volcano OR choosing a normal cave without 1,600-degree lava.
• Riding your rusty dirty bike from 1996 OR accepting a free, cherry-red Lamborghini from your insanely rich uncle.

These are all “no-brainer” choices. In Joshua 24:14-15, Israel’s aging leader gave the people a similar choice in his final address:

Fear the LORD and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD alone. But if you refuse to serve the LORD, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD.

Joshua’s no-brainer was for the Israelites to fully commit to God, who had miraculously worked on their behalf as his chosen people. But if they decided to reject him, Joshua basically said, “Don’t waste my time or God’s: choose now which false, worthless gods to worship—the ones the Lord exposed as frauds in Egypt or in Canaan.”

What’s It Mean?

As today’s verse says, Joshua made his choice clear: he and his family committed their lives to the Lord.

What about you? Your biggest dilemma probably isn’t whether to serve false gods or the one true God of the Bible. Idolatry for twenty-first century Americans is an entirely different problem than it was for ancient Israel. Our hearts are prone to worship the “gods” of personal comfort, money, fame, selfish ambition, and worldly pleasures, to name a few. These idols might not be made of wood or stone, but they are just as worthless and spiritually enslaving as lifeless statues. May your mantra instead echo Joshua’s: “As for me and my family, we will serve the LORD.”

There’s a God in heaven who created you and lovingly sacrificed his own Son to atone for your sins. Serving this God leads to eternal life. All other false gods lead to spiritual death.

Your choice should be clear. In fact, you could say it’s a no-brainer.

Now What?

Prayerfully examine your heart for any “gods” you are worshiping, and confess them to the Lord.

Did You Know?

Joshua lived to be 110—almost as old as Moses!