Generations before Elijah stood before Israel and demanded that they choose whom they would worship, Joshua issued a remarkably similar challenge.
After leading God's people through military victories, land conquests, and trials of faith, Joshua gathered Israel and made one final appeal:
Joshua 24:14-15
14 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 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.”
Make up your mind.
What will you give your life to?
Who or what will you trust with your future, provision, and health?
To bring back the ladder example from Sunday, you can no longer straddle two places at once. It is time to choose!
The choice is not simply to become a Satan worshiper or a God worshiper. The enemy is more nuanced and deceitful than that.
The choice is to worship the gift or the Giver. The created or the Creator. The Lord your God or the loves of your life.
Most of us think that we can keep all the plates spinning as we attempt to appease God while also meeting the standards and expectations of our families, our employers, and our friends. We think we can have it both ways, but eventually we are faced with a choice.
It is more than Cowboys or Christ. Sex or the Savior. Things we see or the things unseen.
It is a choice about what we believe is ultimately the best thing we can find. For many, we have fallen into the trap of believing that we can create heaven on earth, and in doing so, we lose our longing for the eternal heaven God has promised.
Will He actually have all the things I want, or will it just be a lot of clouds and gold…?
Jesus tells us that we cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). We cannot give our ultimate allegiance to two opposing forces. To put it in our day, we cannot have two entities steering the wheel of our lives. We have to decide.
Choose this day whom you will serve!
Do you believe that the offers of the world will bring the ultimate happiness and hope you crave?
You have to make a choice. A defining choice. A choice that changes everything.
I hope you will see that everything we cling to in this world will eventually rust, rot, or ruin. Nothing earthly will last forever. Nothing in this world will truly satisfy. Nothing will give us what our hearts long for most. Not a person, house, trip, purse, haircut, or possession.
And thanks be to God, when we recognize that we have chosen poorly, His grace invites us to repent and return to Him.
Only God can truly satisfy! Will you choose Him?
