Choose this day …

Choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD (Joshua 24:14-15)

This was the challenge Joshua put to the Israelites before he left them. 

They were going to live in a land where fighting would still be necessary and the threat of idolatry remained present. Joshua commanded them to put away every idol. 

His exhortation was based upon a full understanding of what God had done for the nation; in Joshua 24 verses 1-13, Joshua presents a history of God’s actions in bringing the Israelites to where they currently were. The correct response to this is that the Israelites would “fear the Lord” and put away idols. 

On that day, Joshua challenged the nation with a choice – to serve the Lord that brought them into the land or to return to the idols of their forefathers. In that moment, the nation declared that they would serve the Lord, however as Joshua knew then (and the following events showed) their commitment to piety would not last. It was not long until once again the nation of Israel had turned to idolatry and entered a great cycle of apostasy seen in the book of Judges. 

I think we have a lot to learn from Joshua and the Israelites.

A commitment to God and the devoting one’s life to the Lord is not something done exclusively at one moment on a single day of our lives, it is a daily decision we have to make as believers; whether we will choose to live in the reality of what we have been brought into, or if we will return to old habits and allow our sinful flesh to reign. 

Our decision (as the Israelites was), should be fully informed by an understanding of all God has done for us. We could look at creation or friends and family in our lives or the comforts we enjoy, and the only correct response is to turn in thanksgiving to the one who provided them for us. Yet greater still, we can look at the cross, the greatest moment in history. When we see Christ’s love and grace poured out to us, and see all we have been brought into – the new life we have been given – what more can we do but truly give our lives to the one who gave His life for us. 

The way in which God has acted for us and for many throughout history can give us great confidence that He is real and worth serving. This knowledge highlights the unworthiness of idols when compared with the true God. To worship anything other than God is ultimately pointless. That in mind, we, like the Israelites, must put away every idol, anything that would get in the way of our relationship with God and our serving Him, must be abandoned. In our current world and culture, there is an array of distractions and idols trying to call young believers away from God. Combatting this will require action that is both drastic and daily. 

We must be willing to completely part with even useful comforts and habits if they are taking the place of God. As the Lord emphasises in Matthew 5, we should be willing to pluck out our eye or cut off our hand for the sake of God’s kingdom. This is action that will hurt in the short term, but it is necessary, for if we are serving an idol we will suffer greater in the long term.

While drastic action is necessary, perhaps more important is the need for daily action. 

In order for us to finish the race, we must be consistent, that involves a daily examination of ourselves, continually guarding against and removing anything that would disrupt our fellowship and take the place of God in our lives. This requires great discipline, and is truly a difficult task. In fact, it would be impossible if we were left to ourselves. The good news is we have not been left to discipline ourselves through our own power, instead, as Paul tells Timothy, God has given us a spirit of “power and love and discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7, NASB), enabling us to serve Him even when we don’t feel as inspired.

The Israelites were inspired but were unable to follow God consistently. The reality was that they did not have the power, as Joshua pointed out, “Ye cannot serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:19). We, however, do have the power to follow God consistently. By the power of the Holy Spirit indwelling us, we have been freed from our old man and given new life. In living with a daily dependance on God, an awareness of our own weakness and taking advantage of the power we have been given, we can serve the Lord.

As young men, we can have great moments of inspiration and of feeling fully committed to the Lord – perhaps after reading a great book or hearing great teaching — the aim of a Christian life is not merely to have sporadic days of discipline and commitment. Rather, it is to “finish the race” – to be consistent and live each day answering the challenge, saying, ‘I will serve the LORD.’