Choices

“But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”  - Joshua 24:15

Life is full of choices. Some are minor. For instance, I chose to eat Cheerios for breakfast this morning.  I had several brands of cereal to choose from, but I chose Cheerios.  Which, by the way, is my normal choice.  My choice for breakfast, outside of proving I make very wise and tasty choices, will mean very little for the rest of my day, much less the rest of my life. There are hundreds of such minor choices we make each day.  Sometimes they may add up and make some sort of difference in our day.  Sometimes. Sometimes not.

The Scripture this morning is, however, about the single most important choice we have to make any morning.  In some ways, we have to make this choice intentionally every morning of our lives.  Even God’s elect have this choice to make. It’s about more than just accepting the fire insurance, if you catch my drift.

Israel was told “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.” 

We are told the same.  Ironically, on a week in which we chose collectively who will lead our nation for the next four years, the reality is that you and I have had far more important choices to make this week than President of the United States. “…Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.”

Whom we will serve.  Oh yes, daily we face and dance with the other gods in our lives.  They are nipping at our toes. Be they the gods of our ancestors or the gods that the society that we live in that we have become wrapped up in.  Don’t believe me?  How many of you got all caught up in the god of politics this week?  You would have thought that we were electing a savior or something. While I may have been personally disappointed by the outcome of Tuesday’s election, I do understand that the candidate I supported was not the Messiah.  Far from it.

We all have a choice today: as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.  I choose to stand with Joshua here. But it’s a choice I feel I have to make every morning. Because the others gods are there waiting for me each and every day. 

So, this day….whom will you serve?  And after today…tomorrow?  Who will you serve? You do have a choice.