Estes Echo

Choose you this day!!!

“Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”—Joshua 24: 14-15. These are some of the most influential expressions in all of scripture. Joshua’s edification to the Children of Israel is one that still echoes in New Testament scripture even today. Jesus’s statements “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” John 14:15 clearly show that God still anticipates the same kind of whole-hearted service from modern day Christians that he expected from the Children of Israel.

I can’t even begin to visualize how much courage it must have taken for Joshua to stand up before an entire nation of people that had for the most part chosen to serve other gods. Joshua, even though he was a leader, demonstrated tremendous courage and commitment to God when he made his declaration. The words of Joshua should reverberate throughout our homes each day. As New Testament Christians, Joshua’s statement has never been more profound than in our case because the concerns that we face in our world today. We must come to the realization that human nature seeks only to satisfy the flesh. Separation from that desire and a commitment to serve God must be our aspiration.

The fact that Joshua said “choose you this day” implies a couple of things. First and foremost, we are not given the assurance of tomorrow. We must make the best of our present and determine our purpose to serve the Lord. Secondly, Joshua speaks of a daily choice. Every morning, as we wake, we are gifted with another prospect to choose what kind of a person we will become. In the words of Kid President “What are you teaching the world?”

Joshua set an amazing illustration for us to read about and mature from. If we choose to do naught with the days that God has given us, what will God’s reaction be to us in judgment? I challenge us to ask ourselves daily the same question that Joshua asked of his people all those many years ago, “Choose you this day whom you will serve.” I hope as a church our reply is, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

–Steven Marise