Challenged To Make A Choice

Challenged to Make a Choice

Choose today whom you will serve. . . . As for me and my family, we will serve the LORD. Joshua 24:15

You want to get your priorities right, and you know what they are, but in crunch time, do you really follow them and live them out? You need to look no further than your family to find a myriad of crunch-time challenges to what you know are the right priorities.

Simply put, when times are good, when we’re flush with cash, or when our careers are going well, it’s easy to realize and embrace the truth that we are called to serve God and not things. But what about when times are tight? Who gets top priority then?

What about when you’ve just lost your job and you don’t know which way to turn, and when you’re sitting down to update your résumé, your younger daughter asks for help with some homework? What’s more important? How about when you’ve been offered the opportunity you’ve been waiting for—a job with a big advancement and a larger salary—but it requires moving to another state just as your son begins his senior year in high school? Not an easy call. “As for me and my family, we will serve the LORD.” Right? Easy?

What happens to your priorities when you’re pulled at the seams? What happens to serving the Lord first, putting your family next, and bumping everything else farther down on the list?

Remember Joshua? He succeeded Moses as leader of the people of Israel after Moses’ death, safely crossing the Jordan River with God’s people into the Promised Land. It had been a long and difficult journey, to say the least. But immediately, there was dissension and grumbling in the ranks caused by a number of issues, not the least being temptations around them as well as the perceived lack of room and amenities in the new location. But Joshua was unwavering in his faith, knowing that if he faithfully served God, He would provide. Decades later, in his farewell speech to the assembled tribes, Joshua challenged them with the choice recorded in today’s verse. And they responded, “We will serve the LORD!” (verse 21).

God still poses that challenge to you today. Think what you will choose. Then guide your family in that way.

Uncommon Key > Decide today whom you will serve: God or everything else. Make it God!