Whom will I serve today?

When faced with a choice, I am already in one of the options.

This was the premise in a small booklet. It pointed out how those presented with the opportunity to follow Christ could choose to follow Him or not, but one of those options describes their situation before the opportunity presents itself.

Today my husband and I can choose to go out in the rain or stay in our room. We are already in the room. It is comfy here, spacious and has everything we would need for the day. Going out in the rain isn’t that appealing, and if we were at home with this option, we would decide to stay in. However, the rain in Scotland is not like the rain in Alberta, Canada. Here, many do not bother with an umbrella. The rain, light or heavy, seems a part of the day as much as sunshine. It is not an “evil” to be avoided, but a way of life to be accepted.

In the Bible, Joshua had been leading the people since the death of Moses. Continually faced with the challenges of following God and the temptations to do otherwise, and Joshua challenged them.

And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. (Joshua 24:15)

At this point in their history, the Israelites seemed to be already in that option of serving the Lord, yet temptations continually threatened to pull them away. Joshua reminded them that as human beings created to worship, if they did not worship the Lord, they would worship someone or something, in this case, the gods of the people around them.

I think about this challenge, “If it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. . . .” My options are not exactly the same as theirs. The people around me do not have little statues that they bow to, but many of them do have idols. They serve the great god of commerce, or leisure, or simply the god of self.

Each day, even each moment of the day and with each turn of events, I face a choice. Will I go in that direction, or stay on my current path? Whom will I serve? Does it seem evil, difficult, or at least foolish to serve the Lord? If so, I need to ask myself more questions, such as, Where is my faith? What can any other god do for me above what the Lord does?

In Joshua’s day, his question may have been rhetorical. Certainly the options were not even an issue, for in his mind, who would want to follow idols. Yet the potential was there, and easy for the people to slide into. That is why this is an excellent question for me too. As I start this day and as the day unfolds, whom will I serve?