May 3 – Joshua 23, Joshua 24 John 3:22-36 Psalm 55:12-23

Josh 24:14-16

“Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond 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.”

As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord. You see this on photo frames in many Christian homes. It’s nice. But it’s not the whole verse, or really the right context.

Joshua is giving the people a choice. The land is taken and He’s offering the people 2 very clear options.

Put away the gods your fathers served for generations, leave idolatry behind and choose this day to commit to the Lord 100%… or choose those idols. Don’t be stuck in the middle – God does not want half hearted. Either be for Him or against Him.

Be for Him and live in blessing or be against Him and deal with what that brings.

But choose.

Joshua couldn’t speak for all of them – but said, “As for me and my house, we choose God”.

That’s all any of us can do. We make that choice for ourselves. But we must choose – God is not into half hearted followers.

So that challenge comes to us too, today.

Choose this day who you will serve. Will you serve this world and it’s idols? Or will you give it all to God?

John 3:36

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

This is John the Baptist speaking about Jesus. He’s very clear on what he believes the mission of Jesus is – and funnily enough it’s correct.

However believes in the son has eternal life. Whoever does not… does not. It’s pretty simple really, I don’t know how so many have got so confused.

You may not like this to be the case… but it doesn’t matter – it’s still the case. There is one way to God and that’s through faith in Jesus Christ. By all means try and find another one, but no other way leads to life. 

Psalm:22

Cast your burden on the LORD,

and he will sustain you;

he will never permit

the righteous to be moved.

We all have burdens and cares. We all have struggles. That goes without saying. But the real question is, what do we do with them? Do we let them get on top of us? Do we get anxious?

He is there. Cast them on Him. He is the one who sustains us and gets us through the hard times. He’s big enough to carry them, don’t worry about overloading Him.