According to studies cited by Roberts Wesleyan College, each one of us averages making around 35,000 decisions per day. You are making one right now as you read this article.
What if in all of the decisions we made each day, we made God the primary factor of deciding? Can you imagine how that would reshape the way we think and live?
There are two Old Testament passages about decision-making that stand out to me when thinking about choosing God. One may be more familiar to you than the other.
In the final chapter of the book bearing
“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.” (Joshua 24:15 – NASB)
The question was simple and it should cut us all to the heart. What are we going to serve, false gods or the living God? Joshua’s answer was direct, and I particularly like his invoking his household, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua chose God.
Another Old Testament example of choosing God was in I Kings chapter 18, when Elijah addressed the people of Israel concerning Ahab’s worship of Baal on Mount Carmel.
Ahab had assembled the prophets to make a show of God vs. Baal, and God through Elijah was about to destroy Baal. Before that took place, Elijah addressed the people of Israel with a simple question.
“Elijah came near to all the people and said, ‘How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, follow him.’ But the people did not answer a word.” (I Kings 18:21 – NASB)
The final sentence of that verse is incredibly sad, “The people did not answer a word.”
That leaves us with two fundamental questions taken from these two verses. They are as relevant to us today as they were for the Israelites under Joshua’s leadership and Israel when Elijah was alive.
There was only one answer then, and there is only one answer now.
Stop hesitating
We might not have an actual Baal erected in our life that we physically fall before and worship, but we have our idols. You know what yours are, and I know what mine are.
Our problem is that we just can’t let go of the idol. We say, ‘Just one more day doing _____,’ and I’ll serve you tomorrow, Lord.
No, now is the acceptable time; today is the day of salvation (II Corinthians 6:2). There is no ambiguity, no middle ground. There is no time to think it over. It must be Jesus today and Jesus tomorrow.
Choose today whom you’re going to serve
We know the idols of the past. Paul warned the Corinthians about the sins of the people of Israel. We know what we have struggled with in our lives and our families. If we linger with it any longer, it could be too late.
And what about our households? Joshua clearly spoke for his, and we need to ensure that our households are serving the Lord in the way his was.
It is up to us to choose this day whom we will serve, either a god of this world that will bring despair and ultimate death or the living God, who sent his son to the earth to die for our sins so that we can live forever.
