Truth and action
Brian Boardman
November 13, 2017
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Joshua 24: 14-25
14 ‘Now therefore revere the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.’
16 Then the people answered, ‘Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; 17 for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight. He protected us along all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed; 18 and the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.’
19 But Joshua said to the people, ‘You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. 20 If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good.’ 21 And the people said to Joshua, ‘No, we will serve the Lord!’ 22 Then Joshua said to the people, ‘You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.’ And they said, ‘We are witnesses.’ 23 He said, ‘Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.’ 24 The people said to Joshua, ‘The Lord our God we will serve, and him we will obey.’ 25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made statutes and ordinances for them at Shechem.
One of the greatest gifts God gives us is free will. We are given the freedom to decide for ourselves the paths we choose to follow. But any decisions we make in life are best made with the benefit of the wisdom of generations past. How many of us have been blessed by the wisdom and advice from parents and grandparents to help us negotiate our way through difficult times?
If we seek wisdom we should look to the lessons of history to be our guide. However, many people choose to go their own way and reject or even ridicule the hard won experience of generations past. Somehow they convince themselves that things are different now in this generation and that old values are worthless and should be consigned to history. This is exactly the work of the enemy, to persuade us that nothing of the past has any value and that we are the masters of our own destiny.
We can create our own gods of money, material things, celebrity and worldly ambition whilst scorning the things of the One True God; faithfulness, holiness, service and sacrifice. I suppose we could say, life presents us with a stark choice – God’s way of selflessness which leads us to eternal life in God’s presence, or our way of selfishness which leads us to separation from His presence.
Holy Father, may Your Spirit inspire us daily to declare “As for me and my family, we will serve The Lord”. May Your Spirit inspire us daily to say with Jesus “Your will Father, not mine”. May Your Spirit inspire us daily to share with the next generation the reasons we have for the great hope within us, that they may turn to You and declare “I will serve the Lord my God and obey Him”. Amen.
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