"As for me and my house....."

This week our Sunday School lesson is on Joshua 24. I am excited to share with the ladies and hear what they have to share tomorrow in class. Thought I would share with you also what I have learned this week.

The first 12 verses God, through Joshua, is reminding the people of where they have been and where they have come from. He starts with Abraham and speaks of how his father, Terah, served other gods. Then Isaac, Jacob, and Esau and how Esau didn’t follow the Lord and served other gods. Also He reminds them of how He delivered them from the Egyptians through Moses. Finally how He protected them from Balak and Balaam.

If you look at verses 1-13 you see the small word “I” and God is showing the people of how it was Him that delivered, protected, and provided for them. Nothing they had done it was ALL God! We can sure see that in our own lives. Everything we have, houses, bank accounts, food, etc, comes from the Lord! It is he who provides for our every need and even at times our wants.

In verse 14 Joshua tells the people to fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and truth and put away other gods. SERVE THE LORD! What are some “gods” of our day? Maybe it is sports, materialism, ourselves, family, whatever it is that we devote more of ourselves to than we do God is our god. Serving the Lord is no little matter. We are to serve Him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength.

Joshua 24:15 is a very familiar verse, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served....But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” We see that verse so often that we may have come to not really think about what it is saying. We have decisions to make and the most important decision we make is whom will we serve. This is not a one time decision but a moment by moment decision.

The people say they will serve the Lord but Joshua quickly responds “You cannot serve the LORD,...”. He did not want these people to take their commitment lightly. He wanted them to realize the commitment they were making needed to be a wholehearted commitment! Now what about our commitment to the LORD? We hang Joshua 24:15 on the wall but do we REALLY choose to serve the LORD? Are we making that commitment lightly and just saying “words”? Or are we wholeheartedly with sincerity and truth serving the LORD?