As For Me
May 23rd, 2006
Corey Rose
Joshua 24:14-15 - Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshipped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.
As Joshua’s life comes to a close, he boldly challenges the people to choose between the gods of their forefathers and the living God, Yahweh. He tells them that they cannot fear the LORD and serve other gods at the same time, for to fear Yahweh is to serve Him. He implies there is no middle ground - everyone will end up worshipping something or someone. And he doesn’t try to coerce or manipulate them to believe. He simply proclaims the truth to them and gives them the freedom to choose. But no matter what they may choose, Joshua has already made his clear choice - “as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
Lord, may I boldly challenge others to follow after You, without being coercive or manipulative. Help me to respect other’s freedom of choice, and yet, to be unwavering in my choice to fear You and serve You with all faithfulness. Thank you for being so faithful to me.
May 23rd, 2006 at 7:43 am
Hi Corey,
Yes, everyone DOES have the freedom to make their own choice. As I read through this passage in Joshua, I was struck by how “wide open” the door of choice was for everyone. They could have very easily “taken the money and quit the game”, so to speak. They could have walked away and decided to live in the new land that God had given them, enjoying all of its blessings, but choosing to continue to live in the worldly pagan ways of the past. They had a choice to make. And the wrong choices probably looked very appealing to them. And I’m sure that some of the people were probably very confused about what choice to actually make.
But Joshua did something very excellent to help encourage them. He clearly laid out the options so they could clearly see what the options really were… to help them draw their own conclusion… the right conclusion. He knew that he couldn’t force them to choose correctly, but he didn’t want to leave any possibility that they might choose incorrectly, out of ignorance. And he shared what HIS personal choice was, so they clearly understood that making no choice was… well… probably making the wrong choice.
I like Joshua’s challenge and example for living. I want to make the right choices in my own life. And I also want to illuminate the options for others, so that they might make the right choices… the Godly choices… more deliberately.
Thanks for sharing your journal entry, Corey!
blessings to you,
Michael