Choose This Day Whom You Will Serve

September 23, 2014

Choose This Day Whom You Will Serve

But as for me and my family, 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 on the night 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 them 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; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take” (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. I was recently 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 this morning as I read 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.”

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. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.