“Today is a result of our yesterdays, and the cause of our tomorrows.” –Anonymous
Today is pretty important!
All the decisions I have made in the “todays” of the past have shaped my present reality. And the decisions I make this day will impact the “todays” of my future.
Oftentimes circumstances are beyond our control. Things happen that we can’t affect or change. But we can dictate what we do about them. And each day matters.
What am I to do with this day?
In Joshua 24:15, Joshua challenges God’s people with a decision: “Choose this day whom you will serve… As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
For the Israelites, it’s an important day! They have fought nation after nation, and God has been faithful to give them victory after victory. They now have possession of a beautiful land chosen just for them. But they are surrounded by nations who engage in idol worship, something that has been an issue for their fathers before them. Joshua exhorts them to make an intentional commitment here and now: serve God!
We too are surrounded by worldly idols and faced with the temptation to prioritize other things over God. Each day we are faced with the question of who we will serve during the next twenty-four hours. Sometimes the idols are ourselves. We prioritize our own comfort and our own honor over God. We turn to our own pleasure rather than serving Him.
Those decisions will directly affect our future. If we choose to serve idols, our lives will be meaningless and empty. If we choose to serve God, we will have purpose and peace, and He will fill us with grace.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor during the Nazi takeover of Germany, was forced to make some incredibly hard decisions when it came to who to serve. When he saw the Christian church accepting Nazi doctrine in their teachings, including worshipping the Fuhrer as the head of the church, he took a stance against it. He helped form the Confessing Church, a group of believers who held to the truths of Scripture and the worship of God alone. He started underground seminaries to train and encourage Confessing Church pastors. He encouraged them with these words: “Faith is only real when there is obedience, never without it, and faith only becomes faith in the act of obedience.”
The decision to obey and serve God may not be easy, but it is evidence of true faith. And as in the case of Bonhoeffer, those decisions lead to strength in adversity, and to fulfilling God’s good purpose on this earth. When we choose to serve God, He can use us in amazing ways!
God, each day is a new gift given by you. Help me each morning to rejoice in the day you have given. Help me to use each and every opportunity I have to serve you!
Great entry this morning Kris! I need to figure out a way for my coffee maker to play a sound clip of this verse from Joshua. Maybe that would help me wait patiently for my morning beverage instead of doom scrolling through Facebook or Instagram and losing an hour of time which could be more productively spent with our Heavenly Father.