Making a Choice

Near the end of his life, Joshua gathered the elders and the people after they have finally settled in the promised land. He says to them: Choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living: but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Joshua says: choose, choose…. make the conscious choice….

People of faith have long recognized that it is God alone who can save us. Money, power, political agendas, military strength, and even theology, relationships, and other people are temporal and limited. Our ultimate hope has to be bigger or our lives become small and skewed.

I think again about Joshua as an older man – with all his experience and wisdom. He seemed to be very much aware that the god you believe in, the god you worship, the god you serve… determines the kind of life you live…  

I was reflecting on all this week. What does it mean to choose to serve the Lord? Maybe it really is the small decisions we make that add up. Maybe it’s the small decisions that speak to who we are actually worshiping. So, every day we get to decide. 

Today: I am going to make a choice to care – even when every fiber of my being says, “Why bother Joe… You won’t make a difference.”

I am going to make a conscious choice to do the right thing or at least think through what the right thing is in any given situation.

I am going to make a choice – to look for God’s presence even in people who make me really angry.

I am going to make a choice to give generously; even when I’m afraid to do so;

I am going to make a choice to notice that even the toughest, most draining moments of life are actually at the same time alive with the same Power that created the stars, the highest of the mountains and depths of the ocean, and love.

I am going to make a choice to try and follow Jesus and follow his way of being to the best of my ability.

What will you choose today? 

Let us pray: We remember that Jesus said that he came that we might have life – and have it in abundance… Help us to choose to keep you at the heart and center of our lives O God, that abundant life would be ours; through Jesus Christ. Amen.