04/25/2024
AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE". . . Choose you this day whom you will serve . . . But as for meand my house, we will serve the Lord!” (Joshua 24:15b)Joshua and Caleb were champions for God because they stood up for what wastrue and right, even when everybody else was going the wrong way. When thepeople of Israel had received the Promised Land and Joshua was about to let themall go to their homes to settle down, he issued them a strict warning. God wouldbless them if they would stay true to Him, but God would punish them and take awaytheir inheritance if they left Him and followed idols. Then he made a bold challengefor them to choose, but he said, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!”This world wants to take us down. All around us we see materialism, grossimmorality, alcohol and drug abuse, violence, confusion, hatred, evil talking, andgeneral godlessness. There is a concerted effort by some to remove God from thecenter of our lives and society. Christians and the Bible are mocked in the media.Sadly, it seems that the world is more and more like that world before the flood, “AndGod saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that everyimagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).Noah and his family were saved because he and his family served the Lord.Following Joshua’s leadership, the people of Israel often forget about God. Inspite of being warned (Deuteronomy 12:8), “. . . every man did that which was right inhis own eyes” (Joshua 17:6; 21:15). (Moral relativism prevailed, as in our day.) Inthe succeeding generations, there would be most who would ignore God’s way andlive for themselves, their own pleasure and personal gain. Yet there were always afew faithful who would lead their families to serve the Lord in spite of what everyonearound them is doing.The challenge for us is not to do nothing but wring our hands and fret about allevil. Instead we need to be pro-active in leading people back to the way of the Lord,beginning with our own families. The hope of our society and our world is JesusChrist and the gospel story He has left us to tell. We need men and women who will take a stand for what is good and right, who will put their foot down and say “no” to evil, who will pray to God for daily guidance and will be determined that we will serve the Lord, no matter what choices everyone else makes. May God bless our resolve, and may He bless our families as we endeavor to lead them in His way. –Roger Wright-
