"Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served 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 24:14,15)

Joshua's words to the Western Tribes (but clearly valid for the entire people of Israel) mark his solemn commission to the people as he is about to "go the way of all the earth." A long time has passed since the initial conquest of the land, and Joshua urges the people not to turn aside from following the Lord.

Indeed, Joshua rightly judges that, while the military conquest of the land has reached a near-term conclusion, each generation will need to have a new spiritual conquest. Or, put more personally, each of us must decide daily (and sometimes momentarily) whom we will serve. As Bob Dylan sang, "you gotta serve somebody." In Joshua's words, we see an dichotomy of intentionality -- that, by choosing not to follow the Lord, the people will inevitably fall into serving the pagan gods of the conquered regions. In truth, we face the same dichotomy: we will choose to serve the Lord, or we will end up serving the "prince of this age," the world, or the flesh. Whom will you choose to serve?

The paramount importance of this decision speaks of why our love for the Lord must awaken our hearts, minds, and souls. If our hearts, minds, and souls are not fully engaged in loving God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, then we will lose our drive. We must become more intimate with Him by cultivating our relationship; otherwise, we will move away from Him. Our society, perhaps best represented through Oprah theology, believes that we may dabble in various faith traditions to satisfying personal effect, but this smokescreen obscures the truth of the passage above. The dichotomy does not disappear, even with modern-day "progress." In The Knowledge of the Holy, A. W. Tozer wrote: "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God."

The passage also points to the problem of how a nation at "rest" -- spread out over many square miles, instead of living communally -- can continue to follow the Lord in unison. Joshua urges in 22:5: "But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul." The nation's commitments are ultimately to God, not man.

The nation, in time, will come to rest on its laurels and fall away from the Father. How could they have avoided this? In one sense, through remembrance: By recalling the words of Moses and Joshua and the punishment of Achan. As Scott wrote earlier, we must see that our personal sin ultimately has repercussions within our families and throughout the entire society. (As a small example, while lust primarily wars against my own body, its effects cause me, in my pride, to diminish the value of others. Multiply this effect over thousands of times, and you have a society that speaks of gender equality but believes in a highly sexualized femininity.) In fact, the Israelites' corporate morality will fall away from this point forward through the time of the Judges because there is little to no personal accountability and insincere commitment from the people to the Lord. God is living, active, and He desires to renew our relationship daily.


QUESTIONS

1. How can you motivate yourself to follow Joshua's words? Whom can you enlist in fighting the battle with you?

2. What lies have you believed about your own sin over the past week? How can you learn and relearn of God's goodness?