"Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 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 the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."(Joshua 24:14-15 NIV)
There is a malaise over the land. No, I am not talking about unease over the economy but a malaise within our churches. We attend Sunday and Wednesday services. We have new, dynamic worship songs to sing. We have many activities that keep us busy, yet we still have uneasiness. When Joshua brought his people into the Promised Land he took them to Shechem and reminded them of their history—of all the wonderful things God has done for them. Yet some still wavered and wanted to give equal service to their idols. But God would have none of it. It is Him or the idols. Joshua warned them that if this exclusiveness toward God was “undesirable” (rāc Hebrew for “useless and unappealing”) they would be making their choice. I believe there are many Christians that are wavering between total unconditional service to Jesus as Lord and the idols of secret sin, workaholism, and other things thought more “useful and appealing.” Despite the wonderful gift of eternal life in Jesus, we try and keep busy enough so that we can ignore the gnawing feeling of discontent in our souls. Christian, the problem is not with Jesus or the church. The problem is that by wavering we have already made the choice for idols. Can we say, “…as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
Pray: “God, help us to learn that only you satisfy. You have bought us with a price and we are not our own. Lord, help us to follow you as Lord by reminding us of what you did for us as Savior.”