“Fear the Lord and serve Him with all faithfulness…But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you’re living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” 
Joshua 24:14-15

Researchers tell us that we make between 33,000-35,000 decisions every day. These decisions range from something seemingly insignificant, like deciding what shirt to wear, to something important, like choosing not to hold a grudge against a friend.

Yet, of the thousands of choices before us, one is more important than the rest. In fact, this one choice helps determine the trajectory of our lives.

What is this simple yet profound choice?

Today, you must choose who you will serve: yourself or the Lord. 

Before you decide, think about this…

Just like in the days of Joshua, we live in a land brimming with idols. An idol isn’t just a statue carved out of wood or stone. An idol is anything  we value more than God – power, comfort, pleasure, another person, success, material possessions, careers, phones, etc. But all of these idols are really just manifestations of our biggest idol: ourselves.   

Serving the idol of ‘self’ comes easily to us. We don’t even have to think about it. It just happens.   

Serving the Lord, on the other hand, never just ‘happens.’ Instead, we must make an intentional choice to serve Him above everything else, including self. This isn’t a one-time decision but one that is lived out day after day.    

The first step in crushing the idol of self is recognizing that God isn’t our ‘Butler In The Sky.’ He doesn’t exist to serve us; we exist to serve Him. As this truth permeates our hearts, we willingly place ourselves at His disposal, eager to serve Him however He chooses.   

But here’s the thing…

In response to who He is and what He’s done, serving Him should be a delight, not drudgery.  Or, to say it another way, we don’t have to serve the Lord; we get to.

This is exactly what Joshua wants his fellow Israelites to grasp in Joshua 24.

He uses the word ‘serve’ seventeen times, imploring the people to remain faithful to the Lord.  

Here, we find Israel at a pivotal point. After several years of war, most of the Promised Land is now under their control. While their past had been filled with physical battles, Joshua knows their future will contain spiritual battles, battles for the allegiance of their hearts. Every Israelite must decide where their loyalty lies: with the Lord or with the ‘gods’ of the nations.  

The same goes for us. 

In a culture that encourages and even celebrates self-worship, we must also choose who we will serve. 

Consider how much this one decision has the potential to radically impact your day. When we choose to serve the Lord over self, it changes everything:  

• How we handle the meeting at work.
• How we approach relationships with our spouses, kids, or family members.
• How we run errands, do housework, and take care of responsibilities. 

Yes, this choice really is the most important choice you’ll make today. 

A word of caution- Don’t be fooled into thinking you can inhabit some kind of neutral middle ground and have the best of both worlds – a little bit of God and a little bit of yourself.

It doesn’t work this way.  As Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24). The Lord doesn’t want to live in the periphery of your life;  He wants to be your life.  

He wants you to serve Him with everything you are and in everything you do.  

So, who will you serve today? Yourself or the Lord?

The choice is yours. 

Who’s it gonna be?

Written by Jonathan Munson, Executive Director, RFTH

DIG DEEPER
Read “Why is Serving God Important?” at GotQuestions.org