October 7 — Choosing to Serve the Lord

“But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!”
— Joshua 24:15
 
 
Every life is shaped by choices. Some are small and quickly forgotten, while others influence the direction of our lives for years to come. Yet beneath many of our individual decisions lies an even deeper choice: What will have our highest loyalty? What will guide our priorities, shape our values, and determine the way we live? Near the end of his life, Joshua gathered the tribes of Israel and reminded them of everything God had done for them. God had called Abraham, delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt, guided the people through the wilderness, and brought them into the land He had promised. Joshua was not asking the people to serve a God who had done nothing for them. He was asking them to respond faithfully to the God who had already demonstrated His faithfulness to them. Then Joshua placed a choice before the people: “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.” They could return to the gods their ancestors had worshiped or follow the gods worshiped by the peoples around them. Or they could devote themselves wholeheartedly to the LORD. Joshua made his own decision unmistakably clear: “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!” Joshua’s challenge still speaks to us because everyone ultimately gives their life to something. We may not be tempted by the particular idols Joshua named, but our own culture offers many competing loyalties. Success, possessions, comfort, approval, achievement, influence, pleasure, and even our own desires can quietly move toward the center of our lives. None of these things is necessarily wrong in itself, but any good thing can become spiritually dangerous when it assumes the place that belongs to God alone.
 
Pause and reflect: What do my daily choices reveal about what I am truly serving? Consider where your time goes, what receives your attention, what most influences your decisions, and what you are most afraid of losing. Sometimes our priorities reveal our deepest loyalties more clearly than our words do. Joshua’s declaration also reminds us that choosing to serve God is more than a single decision made long ago. There is certainly a foundational commitment when we place our faith in God and choose to follow Him, but that commitment must continually find expression in everyday life. Each morning presents new opportunities to say through our choices, “Today, I will serve the Lord.” We choose to serve God when we act with integrity even when dishonesty would be easier. We choose to serve Him when we forgive rather than hold tightly to resentment. We choose to serve Him when we make time for someone who needs us, when we use our resources generously, when we defend someone being treated unjustly, or when we remain faithful to a responsibility that receives little recognition. In these ordinary decisions, our declaration of faith becomes a way of life. There is also something important in Joshua’s words, “As for me and my house.” Our commitment to God is personal, but it is rarely private. The way we live influences the people around us. Families, congregations, friendships, workplaces, and communities are affected by people who choose to live with faithfulness, compassion, honesty, and love. We cannot make another person’s spiritual choices for them, but we can create an environment in which our own devotion to God is clearly visible. Serving the Lord also means recognizing that everything we possess ultimately belongs to Him. Our abilities can serve His purposes. Our resources can bless others. Our experiences can become sources of wisdom and compassion. Our homes can become places of hospitality. Our words can encourage. Our hands can help. Our lives can become instruments through which God’s love reaches someone else. During the first week of October, we have considered Jesus, who came not to be served but to serve. We have remembered that we are God’s workmanship, created for good works. We have responded with Isaiah, “Here am I. Send me!” We have considered how our daily work can become service to Christ, how our good deeds can glorify God, and why we should not grow weary in doing good. Joshua now brings these ideas together by reminding us that service begins with a fundamental decision: Whom will I serve? Perhaps Joshua’s declaration can become your own today. You might quietly pray, “Lord, today I choose to serve You.” Then allow that decision to shape the ordinary choices that follow. You may not know every opportunity the day will bring, but you can decide beforehand whose purposes you want your life to serve.
 
Tomorrow you will have the opportunity to choose again. And the day after that, again. A lifetime of faithful service is built from countless ordinary days in which we continue saying, with Joshua, “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!”
 
 
Heavenly Father,
 
Thank You for Your faithfulness throughout my life. You have loved me, guided me, forgiven me, and provided for me in more ways than I can count. Because You have been faithful to me, I desire to live faithfully for You.
 
Help me recognize anything that competes with You for the highest place in my heart. Give me wisdom to order my priorities according to Your will and courage to make choices that reflect my commitment to You. May my time, abilities, resources, relationships, and daily responsibilities all become opportunities to serve You.
 
Today I choose again to follow You. Let my life declare not only through my words but also through my actions, “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!”
 
In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

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