“Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15).
I read of an executive in search of an assistant. She narrowed the applicants down to two women. One had more experience; the other had a better personality. She headed to her boss’s office to give him her decision still undecided. Seeing her hesitation, he took quarter out of his pocket and said, “Heads, it’s experience. Tails, it’s personality.” He flipped the quarter into the air and then blurted out, “Quick! What are you thinking?” “Tails,” the executive said. The quarter landed in his hand, and put it back in his pocket without looking at it. He then said, “Call the personnel department with your executive decision” (https://bible.org/illustration/heads-or-tails).
It was not the best way to make such an important decision. We learn that decisions should never be left up to a coin-toss or to our preference. Coin tosses leave choices up to chance, and personal preferences leave them up to our limited knowledge tainted by the sin of selfishness. Remember the warning God gave us in the Bible from Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” The Bible never tells us to trust in chance or ourselves, but it does tell us to trust in God and His word. From the wisdom portion of scripture, God’s word encourages us in Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
In Charles Dicken’s, A Christmas Carol, the main character said, “You are fettered; tell me why?” the Ghost replied, “I wear the chain I forged in life. I made it link by link and yard by yard. I girded it of my own free will, and of my own free will, I wore it” (https://thepastorsworkshop.com/quotes/charles-dickens-you-are-fettered-said-scrooge-id_9164). We all have much in common with the Ghost. Our lives are the sum total of the choices we make. We make our choices of our own free will, and we end up wearing the lives we forge through those choices freely as well. Moreover, the trail of choices in our lives will, ultimately, prove to be either our ruination or our windfall, and the difference will be in whether we trusted ourselves or our creator God in their making. Remember what God told Moses to tell His people in Deuteronomy 30:19-20: “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days.” So, our choices either make us or break us.
Moreover, there is one choice that matters more than any other. If we get it right, our lives are blessed, and our eternity is bright. If we get it wrong, we have no chance of fulfilling our God-given purpose, and our eternity will be one long, never-ending nightmare. Consequently, we cannot afford to leave this choice up to chance, our own limited knowledge, our own fleshly desires, or our personal feelings. Left to ourselves, we would choose personal pleasure, evil entertainment, and creature comfort. We would fill our lives with idolatry and debauchery. So, we must lay all of our faultiness down at the feet of Jesus, and choose God's word, God's will, and God's way.
We find God urging Israel to do this very thing in Joshua’s closing address to the nation just prior to his death. Under his leadership, Israel marched into the Promised Land, defeated God’s enemies, and established their home. Joshua gathered the people together and challenged them in Joshua 24:14-15: “Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
Friends, our wicked culture the opposite. Listen to the voices in the streets and you will hear, “Put yourself first,” but Jesus says, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” You will hear “Satisfy yourself,” but Jesus says, “Deny yourself.” The culture says “You are the master of your own fate,” but Jesus says, “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.” We would do well to remember that we cannot save ourselves, satisfy God’s anger against our sin, take away guilt and shame, restore our broken communion with God, or remove the sure sentence of eternal damnation in hell. However, Jesus— and Jesus alone— can do all of this and more.
How? We must choose to lay down our sin-full, pride-full, broken humanity—all of it—so Jesus can put our old selves to death, and raise up, by His grace, our new selves redeemed, transformed, and indwelled with His presence. Folks, our broken culture will, under the deception of Satan, tell us that we have the power to make ourselves who we are meant to be, but it is a lie. Only when we hear the call of God soul deep, surrender to the power and enablement of the Holy Spirit, and choose to repent of sin, believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection for us, and surrender to Jesus as Lord will we receive the salvation and redemption that God offers and be made, by God’s grace, the very people we were created to be and meant to be.
So, life may be confusing and chaotic at present for you. Instead of losing heart, choose to turn toward heaven, and run toward Christ. I promise you, by the truth and authority of God’s word, you will see, through tear-filled eyes, Grace running to meet you.