CHOOSE FOR YOURSELVES WHOM YOU WILL SERVE

[What a wonderful choice – To serve the Lord ALL THE DAYS OF OUR LIVES!] “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY whom ye will serve…as for me and my house, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD.” (Josh. 24:15) [Joshua well knew that any service that was NOT FREE AND VOLUNTARY could be only pretense and insincerity, and that God loves a cheerful giver. He calls upon us to make our choice, for God himself will not force us – we must serve him with all our hearts if we served him at all. As for Joshua and his family, he confirms that their choice was already secure, for they had taken the Lord God Almighty for their portion.] “And Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that over lived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the LORD that he had done for Israel.” (Josh. 24:31) [LET’S CONSIDER THESE THREE ASPECTS OF FAITH:] [COMMITMENT TO GOD:] “…as for me and my house, WE WILL serve the LORD” (Josh. 24:15). [Joshua was completely committed to the Lord. Can you see yourself in this kind of commitment?] [COMPROMISE CONCERNING GOD: Represented by the elders that served after Joshua who only served God in part; they served the Lord when his purposes served their own. For example, they were given the task of cleaning out the remaining groups of pagan worship in the Promised Land. Instead of destroying them as commanded by God, they compromised on God’s commands. They set a pattern of serving god only in part, only when it was convenient for them. Do you see yourself in this kind of commitment?] [CONFLICT WITH GOD: Represented by the children of the elders that served after Joshua. Joshua was completely faithful, the elders compromised and were only somewhat faithful, because of this compromise, and their children were set up for complete rejection! When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD or the work which He had done for Israel.] “…there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim: And THEY FORSOOK THE LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger.” (Jud. 2:10-12) [This is the big problem of today, backsliding, and the end of the pathway for the wonderful promises. So, WE MUST KEEP OURSELVES IN GOD’S LOVE!!! Do you see yourself in this kind of commitment?]

Be blessed as you praise The Lord, knowing that WE CAN MAKE THIS COMMITMENT: AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSEHOLD, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD TODAY!
-Bill Stockham