A Choice to be Made

“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 24:15

There are so many things vying for our attention in this technologically advanced 21^st Century.  There’s the smart phone we can’t leave home without, the Facebook account that can’t sit unchecked for more than 6 hours, the twitter account that seems so important to keep updated, the blogs that must be followed and the games that must be played.   There’s no doubt that we Americans love our technology.

I may not think I serve these things, but when they demand my attention, how much control do I actually have over the time I spend with them?  If I feel I can’t set it aside for one day, who’s serving whom?

I must fight to keep God in the number one place in my life, otherwise everything else will drown Him out.  But these “things” are not the only threat. 

Family Tradition

We do things out of tradition without a second thought.  I remember hearing the story about the young woman preparing a turkey for her very first Thanksgiving feast.  She defrosted the enormous bird in the sink, just like mom, and carefully covered it with the dish drainer turned upside down.  Her husband asked her why she did that, but she replied, “I don’t know.  That’s just how mom always did it.”  Turns out, her mom perfected this technique as a way to protect the poultry from her nosy cats.  Living in a pet-less home, this step was unnecessary for the daughter, but she did it anyway out of blind tradition. 

What traditions do I continue without a second thought as to whether or not this is glorifying to God?  Some families worship at the altar of the television, keeping it on at all times, never giving God a chance to speak in the quiet, still times of the morning.  Other families have always attended a certain church even though the pastor doesn’t really preach the Word and its more about being seen then being challenged and trained for service in a fallen world.  A number of families follow certain traditions at Christmas time that distract from bringing honor to the Christ Child, but are fun and build lasting memories.

What do I do out of sheer habit, blindly doing what my parents and their parents before them have done for years? 

Choosing to serve the Lord means letting go of practices done out of family custom, and intentionally choosing only those things which glorify Him and put Him in the highest place in my household.

The World

I live in a world that is focused completely on my comfort, entertainment and well-being.  It is easy for me to get sucked into his kind of thinking, focusing on myself as the number one priority.

As a believer, however, Jesus has called me to, “Love the Lord (my) God with all (my) heart and with all (my) soul and with all (my) mind.” (Matthew 22:37) This is kind of hard to do when I’m more concerned with my rights, my comfort and my happiness than I am with loving God.  In this passage, Jesus continued with, “’Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (v 39-40) I can’t go wrong if I keep loving God and others at the center of my attention.

It takes no effort at all to slip into the culture of this world.  The music, movies, television and other forms of entertainment are so readily available and are all around me, ready to amuse me, educate me, and to quench my fleshly thirst.  But as a follower of Christ, I have a choice to make.  James warned us to, “keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1:27)

I don’t need to serve the gods of the culture I live in. 

Instead, I can choose to live in a way that sets me apart from the world while protecting the hearts and minds of myself and my family from taking on the beliefs of this world.  In this way, I am showing God honor in my home.  I am telling Him in a tangible way that His ways are more important to me than my comfort, my happiness, or my fitting in.

Jesus reminded me that, “. . . you don’t belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.” (John 15:19) 

Choosing to serve the Lord means only letting things in my home that honor Him, and not getting drawn into the culture around me. 

Choose the Lord

My computer has default settings that are automatically set.  If I don’t intentionally change them, these preset conditions are programmed to exist.  It is the same with me.  My default settings are my fleshly desires, my natural way of doing things, my selfish point of view.

If I want to follow God, I must intentionally change these settings, choosing instead to do things God’s way.  Paul taught in Galatians 5:16 to “. . .live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”  It takes effort to buck my nature, but if I truly desire to do so, I am able to “. . .keep in step with the Spirit.” (v25) I am not powerless against my nature, for I have been given, “a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7)

It is possible for me to choose the Lord, but I must choose.  Giving Him the first and most honored position in my life is not going to come naturally.

Choosing to serve the Lord means making an effort to give Him the highest place in my thoughts, in my heart and in my home.

There are many things competing for my attention in this world.  If I want to give the Lord my utmost for His highest, I must let go of ungodly traditions, turn my head away from the culture around me and give Him the highest place in my life.

As I begin this day it is my prayer that I can put more value in honoring God than in pleasing myself.

How do I put my own comfort and happiness above pleasing God?

Where do I look just like the world around me instead of being the salt of the earth?