Choose This Day Whom You Will Serve

Meditations for Ragamuffins

November 20, 2023

Choose This Day Whom You Will Serve

But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Joshua 24:15 

A Beautiful Mind is a 2001 film based on the life of John Nash, a Nobel Laureate in Economics. Nash developed paranoid schizophrenia and endured delusional episodes that nearly destroyed his life. In one compelling scene, after Nash began to recover from his illness, and when he was awarded the Nobel Prize, he sees his delusional nemesis standing off to the side. Later he affirms that he is never far away from his delusions and must continually choose what reality to believe.

Joshua, in his leadership of the people of God, had experienced the consequences of ten men choosing to believe their fear, while only he and Caleb choose to trust God. For this reason, when Joshua had successfully led Israel into the Promised Land, Joshua challenged the people to “choose this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15 NRSV). Joshua would later learn that perhaps he should have phrased the challenge, “Choose everyday whom you will serve,” because each and every day we must not only reaffirm our loyalty to God, we must also reaffirm our decision to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

I know this is basic, even remedial Christianity. Even so, it is crucial to Christ being formed within us that we never lose sight of the basics. Some time ago, I was called upon to mediate a dispute. It was painfully clear that the parties were being guided by the cultural axiom, “Do unto others as they do unto you.” I was prayerfully seeking a guiding principle to govern my demeanor as the mediator and found it in one of Fred Craddock’s sermons: “You do not take your behavior from the nature of the other person; you take your behavior from the character of God.”

My Takeaway: The basics never go out of style!

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2023 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.