LEARNING DAILY

 

Joshua 24:1, Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem …….

 

Joshua gathered the people to Shechem to deliver his final message to them. Shechem was one of the refuge cities and was where Abraham (Genesis 12:6) and Jacob (Genesis 35:1-5) had built altars to the Lord. Joseph had also gone to this area to look for his brothers. There were strong memories for Israel in this location. No doubt Joshua used this background to remind the people of what God had done for them. Read through the next verses and see that Joshua did not remind the people of his great leadership nor did he want them to erect a monument to his memory. No, he gathered them to this place to remind them of what God had done for them throughout the years.

 

His speech was focused on God! It was to lead them into a renewing of the covenant to serve Him and no one else, nothing else. He stressed God’s goodness to them and how He cared for them. This speech was an exhortation to love the Lord to serve only Him and to be separated from the world.

 

The well-known statement by Joshua is found in verse 15, “And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, chose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose house you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” I believe there is a little sarcasm in Joshua as he challenged the people to choose between the old gods beyond the Euphrates and the new gods of the Amorites; it is foolishness and separation from God (spiritual death) to choose serving anyone but God Himself. Joshua’s declaration to serve the Lord is an affirmation all of God’s people should affirm today as well!

 

The offer of God’s salvation is still a personal choice. My wife, daughters, their husbands, my grandchildren have to make their own choices concerning their salvation. Each of them is responsible for their own walk on the narrow way to eternal life in God’s kingdom. The notes in the Life in the Spirit Study Bible state, “Each believer must continually choose whom he or she will serve. As with Joshua and the Israelites, serving the Lord is not merely a one-time choice (Joshua 1:16-18; Deuteronomy 30:19-20); we must choose time after time to believe, trust, persevere in the faith, and to obey God and His Word. The renewal of choices by the believer involves the fear of the Lord, loyalty to truth, obedience from a sincere heart and the renunciation of sin with its associated pleasures (v. 14-16). Failure to choose to serve and love the Lord will eventually end in judgment and destruction (v. 20; 23:11-13).”

 

Your salvation through Jesus Christ and your continued walk on the narrow way is your choice! Choose wisely! Where you spend eternity depends on it.