Knowing Him

When I was little, my dad used to sing to my brother and me before bed.  Sometimes he would have his guitar, too, but not always.  The songs he played and sang are still songs I love to hear, even the goofy ones.  He often played/sang "Amazing Grace," "I Come to the Garden Alone (In the Garden)," "Matthew (John Denver)," "Country Roads (John Denver)," "Rocky Mountain High (John Denver)," part of "Feeling Groovy," "Blind Man (Sat By the Road)," "Jesus Loves Me," "Battle Hymn of the Republic," and "I Want to Know You, Lord."

Yesterday, for the first time, though I'd always liked the song, I added "I Want to Know You, Lord" to my list of favorite songs.

I want to know You, Lord
Much more than I do
I want to know You, Lord
Much more than I do
Learn to seek Your face
And the knowledge of Your grace
I want to know You more

It wasn't because I heard it again.  It was because of Matthew 24:23-27 which warns about false Christs.

I got to thinking about how to identify false Christs.  I thought of John 10:1-18 which is all about Jesus, the Good Shepherd vs. False Shepherds.  I flipped over there and found this:

“1 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”

I realized it all comes down to knowing Jesus.  It comes down to knowing His voice so well that no imitation can fool us.  It also comes down to knowing His ways and His teaching so well that anything not in harmony with them just seems wrong.  That is what the next section of John 10 was about:

"7 So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and [a]have it abundantly.

11 “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. 18 No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”

It's all about knowing Him.  Jeremiah 9 says that no one should boast of their might or riches or wisdom, but that, if anyone is going to boast, he should boast in the fact that he knows God and His ways.  Second Peter 1 says that we have everything we need for life and Godliness THROUGH the knowledge of Him Who called us by His own glory and grace.  Jesus, while praying to His Father, in John 17, says that the Father gave Him power to give eternal life to those He chose - and that eternal life is to know God.

Friends, WE MUST KNOW HIM!

This modern church of ours is asleep, seemingly unaware of God's priorities and not caring that the world around them is perishing in sin or that false teaching is creeping into the church.  Why?  It doesn't KNOW HIM to the extent that it makes a change in the lives of its people.  If you don't know someone, you don't know how they think or what they care about.  If you don't love them enough, even if you do know what they want, you don't care.  But if you know this Jesus, this Shepherd that laid down His life for the sheep, you WILL love Him and it WILL change you.

Know Jesus!  Know Him!  Know His voice!  Know His truth!  Know His love!  Know His priorities!  Don't be content with life as always.  Know Him enough that you really love Him.  Know Him enough that it changes you.  Love Him enough that you live for His priorities.

Yes, that will make you look weird to the rest of the world and much of the church.  But does it matter?  This life we live here is a tiny blip on the face of eternity.  We have eternity with God to look forward to.  Can't we stand being different and getting weird looks since we look toward a heavenly city?  Hasn't He called us to that?

Heb. 11:13-16
13 All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. 15 And indeed if they had been [l]thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not [m]ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.

Heb. 13:13-14
13 So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. 14 For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.

Paul believed nothing was worth as much as knowing God.  He said in Philippians 3:

"7 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of [d]knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."

Is anything worth missing that?  Please, please, please - don't miss out on knowing Him - really knowing Him - so that you know His voice and aren't deceived, so that you have eternal life, so that you live for His heavenly Kingdom.

Make that old song my dad sang to me the prayer of your heart.


I want to know You, Lord
Much more than I do
I want to know You, Lord
Much more than I do
Learn to seek Your face
And the knowledge of Your grace
I want to know You more

~M.

Life Lite!

I have finished writing the third and final installment in the "Lessons from the Phantom" series, but have not edited it yet.  In the meantime, I thought I would share this with you:

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-half the danger and half the exhilaration

-half the risk and half the gain

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-half the pain and half the joy

-half the battles and half the victories

-half the ugliness and half the beauty

-half the investments and half the dividends

-half the thuds and half the flying hopes

-half the failures and half the successes

-half the challenges and half the satisfaction

-half the life and all the physical death (We just can’t seem to find a way around full death yet… but trust us – we’re working on it!)

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[Disclaimer:  Full Life is not affiliated with Life Lite and does not endorse this product.  Limited warranty cannot guarantee full satisfaction.  Life Lite is not responsible for consumers’ full experience of regret, death, and trial by fire of half-hearted life work.  Life Lite does not guarantee that the level of benefits will reach expected one half levels or that danger, risk, sacrifice, etc., will not exceed half levels.]

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John 10:10: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."

Matthew 10:39: "He who has found his life will lose it, and be who has lost his life for My sake will find it."

~M.

One Masked Ball: Lessons from the Phantom, part II

An elder in my church, Steve Mozingo, has repeatedly observed that, when we are asked how we are doing, we often answer with a lie –we say we are doing very well.  This is the second type of mask that The Phantom of the Opera tackles.  In Chapter Three, before we have even met the masked phantom, we meet the retiring managers of the Paris Opera House and find that the Phantom isn’t the only character in the book wearing a mask.  Leroux describes the scene: “Everybody remarked that the retiring managers looked cheerful, as is the Paris way.  No one will ever be a true Parisian who has not learned to wear a mask of gaiety over his sorrows and one of sadness, boredom or indifference over his inward joy.  You know that one of your friends is in trouble; do not try to console him: he will tell you that he is already comforted; but, should he have met with good fortune, be careful how you congratulate him: he thinks it so natural that he is surprised that you should speak of it.  In Paris, our lives are one masked ball…”  The second kind of mask found in The Phantom of the Opera is the mask we put over our true feelings and personality out of fear of appearing weak, inviting ridicule, or not fitting in. 

Isn’t this so true to human nature?  We see it even in small children, like the little boys who try to act tough, while they really just want to be hugged.  Sometimes the masks cover joy and sometimes pain.  Sometimes we mask our talents and sometimes our faults.  All the time, trying to appear to be something we are not.  Jesus encountered this in His day in the persons of the Pharisees.  This was His reaction to the false front of goodness they put up:  “‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and indulgence… you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.  So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.’”  (ESV)  No doubt about it, Jesus detested the Pharisee’s masks. 

Really, a mask of this sort is nothing but a lie.  It is telling people we are something we are not.  And what is the harm in this?  Beyond the fact that lying is wrong, there are two harms that come from this sort of mask.  First, we cannot receive the help we need.  When we pretend to be something we are not, when we cover our pain, our struggles, our joy, and our faults, when we pretend to be someone we aren't  we are unable to receive comfort and aid, share our joys, and interact on a deep level.  This is partly because we are unwilling to receive what others are willing to give because receiving it would be an admission of our needs and would begin to reveal what’s really happening behind our masks.  We want to take care of ourselves.  You have probably read, or seen a movie of, L. M. Montgomery’s classic, Anne of Green Gables.  You may remember the scene when Anne takes a dare and attempts to walk the ridgepole of a roof, falls off, and breaks her ankle.  Remember how she refused Gilbert’s offer to drive her home?  In spite of the fact that she was hurt, she was unwilling to accept his help because that would mean taking off her mask of independence and pride.  And she was unwilling to do so. 

The second harm this sort of mask causes is the flip-side of the first.  When we don’t let people know what our true feelings and needs are and who we are inside, the people around us are often unaware of our needs and the best ways to interact with us.  As a result, however willing they may be, they are unable to help us.  It’s as if you were to become seriously ill but were unwilling to go to the doctor for help.  Consequently, the doctor would be unable to help you because he would be unaware of your sickness.

What lessons can we learn from this sort of mask in The Phantom of the Opera?  First, we must be willing to let our masks slip, to let people see our needs, our feelings, and our personalities.  We must leave our pride behind and stop behaving as if we, too, are living our lives as “one masked ball.”  Second, we must realize that, hidden behind the mask of that person we know who seems to have it all together, is a person with feelings and needs, like everybody else.  And then we must be willing to meet those needs, whether or not the person will admit to needing anything.  We humans, from almost the beginning of time, have tried to hide our true selves and our needs and tried to reject help.  Adam and Eve did it by trying to hide from God after the fall.  But we must be willing to imitate God Who sent Jesus to redeem us when we were dying and still trying to save ourselves.

To be continued…

Look at the Heart: Lessons from the Phantom, part I

Sometimes a book captures more than your imagination – sometimes it captures your mind and heart, speaking so clearly to your world that the themes in it stick with you long after you’ve forgotten the little twists and turns of the story.  That happened to me when I read Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera.

I devoured it in two and a half days, thoroughly enjoying the literary style, the depth of the characters, and the suspenseful plot.

Just as a side note, if you have seen a film/stage version of The Phantom of the Opera, you do not know the real story.  Every adaptation I have investigated has changed major aspects of the story and lost the things in the book that made me love the story.

Now, don’t worry, I shan’t make you listen to the whole plot and meet every character.  And, though I think it is a wonderful book – one that everyone should read – my goal here isn’t to give you a book review.  (Just take my advice and read it!)  What I would like to do it share the three themes I found in the book. 

Today, I’d like to share the first of these with you.  But first, a short background on the story:

The Phantom of the Opera is the story of, Erik, a masked man, horribly disfigured from birth, and yet a genius, living hidden away in the cellars of the Paris Opera House; his tragic love of the beautiful opera singer, Christine Daae; his intense jealousy of the man Christine loves; and his desperate desire “to be ‘some one,’ like everybody else.”

The Phantom has many lessons to teach our world, a world so taken with appearances.  First, the flesh is truly a mask over our real self and has no bearing on who we really are.  Second, often, the emotions we appear to have and the person we appear to be, are nothing but a mask over what we truly feel and are.  And third, our needs and value as human beings remain, no matter what outer masks we may wear.

Today we’ll look at the first.  To the world, Erik appeared a monster.  Leroux describes his face as, “…Red Death’s mask suddenly coming to life in order to express, with the four black holes of its eyes, its nose, and its mouth, the extreme anger, the mighty fury of a demon…”  Elsewhere, he is described as a living man in a corpse’s body.  These physical characteristics made him revolting to look upon and, as a result, people rejected him, drove him away, and called him a monster.  And yet, Leroux goes on to say that Erik was able to do “things no other man could do; he [knew] things which nobody in the world [knew].” He had “extraordinary gifts of dexterity and imagination which he had received by way of compensation for his extraordinary ugliness.”  And his voice!  His voice was such that, when he himself was unseen, it was thought to belong to the “Angel of Music”.  But despite these gifts, “…he was too ugly!  And he had to hide his genius or use it to play tricks with, when, with an ordinary face, he would have been one of the most distinguished of mankind!  He had a heart that could have held the empire of the world; and, in the end, he had to content himself with a cellar.”

Is this tragedy not a trademark of mankind?  We so often judge based on outward appearances, failing to see the true person behind the ugly or beautiful face.  Even Samuel, a prophet and man of God, made the same mistake.  In I Samuel 16, we find the account of David’s anointing as king of Israel by Samuel.  When God sends Samuel to the home of David’s father, Jesse, to anoint the next king, He does not tell Samuel which of the sons of Jesse He has chosen.  He simply tells Samuel that He will show him which is to be anointed king.  When Samuel meets the oldest son of Jesse and, finding him a splendid young man, he thinks, “‘Surely the LORD’s anointed is before [me].’ ” But God says to Samuel, “‘Do not look on his outward appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him.  For man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.’ ” (Scripture from the ESV.)

According to God, it is the inner man that truly matters.  God isn’t picky about the appearances of people.  He doesn’t choose people based on a handsome face or reject them based on what might commonly be considered an ugly appearance. 

But, so often, we do just the opposite.  The Phantom was repeatedly rejected by the people who saw him.  A moment in the story of the Phantom particularly stood out to me.  At the point of this episode, Christine has been kidnapped by the Phantom and taken to his domain in the cellars of the Paris Opera House, where he hopes to make her love him.  Christine recounts her experiences: “‘After lunch, he rose and gave me the tips of his fingers, saying he would like to show me over his flat; but I snatched away my hand and gave a cry.  What I had touched was cold and, at the same time, bony; and I remembered that his hands smelt of death. “Oh, forgive me!” he moaned.’”  Even the kind-hearted Christine is unable to bring herself to touch Erik because of his flesh.  

I think this seemingly insignificant moment stood out to me because of its stark contrast to the conduct of Jesus.  During His ministry on earth, Jesus encountered countless sick people, including many with leprosy, a disease that slowly eats away at the body.  The Gospel of Mark recounts Jesus interaction with one of these lepers: “And a leper came to Him, imploring Him, and kneeling said to Him, ‘If You will, You can make me clean.’  Moved with pity, He stretched out His hand and touched him and said to him, ‘I will; be clean.’  And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.” (ESV, emphasis mine)  In the time of Jesus, it was considered very dangerous to touch a leper, because there was the danger of contracting the disease yourself.  Beyond that, it couldn’t have been a very pleasant prospect touch a man whose body was being eaten away, even as he lived.  But Jesus touched him.  Regardless of the danger of disease, regardless of the appearance of the man, He touched him and healed him.

What can we learn from the Phantom’s mask of the flesh?  First, hidden beneath a less-than-ideal appearance may be an incredibly talented person, with gifts we will never know of unless we make ourselves go beyond the person’s appearance.  Erik is not the only one whose ugliness conceals an unknown genius and brilliance.  Second, hidden under the mask of a pretty or ugly face is a heart that is the true determiner of who each person is.  And just as God judges based on the heart, we must do the same or else risk completely mistaking the people we meet.  And last, we must be willing to care for the person beneath the mask of the flesh.  Just as Jesus was willing to reach out to, touch, and heal the leper, we must be willing to touch the people in our lives whom we may not consider to be physically perfect.

To be continued…

...It's Apathy!

One night, my mom and I were discussing an orphan ministry that had recently done a presentation at our church.  In a nut shell, we were discussing the fact that there are an estimated 160 million orphans in the world and that, if the church would truly step up to the plate, we could take that number to zero.  But the church is, for the most part, focused on itself.  And so nothing happens.

I used to think the worst of vices was cowardice.  I've changed my mind.  It's apathy.

I wrote these lyrics after that conversation:

Dare

Verse 1:

We close our eyes

To the pain and the needs

Afraid if we see our hearts might feel

Afraid that we might be driven to move

Getting out of our own little world

Getting out of our own little world

Chorus:

I dare you to live

I dare you to see

I dare you to feel 'til it drives you to move

I dare you to live

I dare you to change

I dare you to face all the needs around you

I dare you to live

I dare you to live

Verse 2:

Share vict'ry

And the fight

There's no joy if you won't feel

There's no vict'ry if you won't fight

Feel the joy

Feel the pain

(Chorus)

Just as a side note, I'm not advocating the "listen to your heart" mentality that is so popular in our culture.  The Bible says that the heart of man is very, very wicked.  But I am advocating compassion - something the Bible does support.  Romans says to rejoice with the people who are rejoicing, to mourn with the people who are mourning, and to cry with those who are crying.  And James says that words are not sufficient to meet a need - we have to put feet and hands to work.

Dare lyrics copyright 2012 by M.

The Race

“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…”  ~Hebrews 12:1

I love that verse.  It captures an important aspect of the Christian life – the struggle, the ongoing journey, the intensity, and the victory.

I’m thinking about two aspects of this parallel in particular and it all revolves around the fact that we aren’t flying solo.

First, there are our witnesses.  In the stands.  Shouting.  “Come on!  You can make it!  Get back up!  Take another step!  Don’t quit!”  Men like Enoch, Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jeremiah, Stephen, and Paul.  Women like Sarah, Rahab, Hannah, Pricilla, Mary Jesus’ mother, and Mary Martha’s sister.  And more.  My great grandpa.  My grandma.  They’re there.  All those people who have crossed the line and finished the course.

If they were here, any of them, they would tell you and tell me to keep on, keep going, never give up, that God’s strength shows up in our weaknesses.

A picture comes vividly to my mind.  Last week, my sister, my dad, and I took the physical test to progress from a white belt to a yellow belt in the Gospel Martial Arts Union, a Christian martial arts organization.  The test is designed to be so hard that you will only complete it if you are totally committed and not willing to quit.  They don’t want half-hearted students who aren’t willing to work hard.

When we entered the room to begin the test, as we were preparing to begin, one of the test administrators, a black belt, told us that his one piece of advice for use was, “Don’t quit.”  Timely advice.

The test was hard.  I’m not weak and it pushed me way beyond what I thought I was capable of doing.  There were times when it sure would have been easier to quit than to keep on.

But what comes to my mind so vividly was the test administrators’ interaction with us.  They knew when it was getting hard, when we were wearing out, and they knew we could keep going – even if we didn’t.

“Come on!  Don’t stop!  Get back up!”

“You can make it!  Straighten your legs out!  Straighten them!”

“Don’t quit!  Don’t slow down!  One more minute!”

“Give it more power!  Come on!”

They were our witnesses, who had already passed the test, and knew what was possible.

That’s what our witnesses in this race and fight of the Christian life are doing.  Can you hear them?

Second, not only do we have our witnesses, who have finished the course, whose lives tell a story of the faithfulness, strength, and mercy of God, but we have each other.

All throughout the New Testament, Christians are exhorted to encourage one another, to build each other up, to live in harmony, to pray for each other.  The Christians around us are our fellow runners and our fellow fighters.  And we are to hold each other up.

Another thing I remember about the yellow belt test was how all of us who took the test encouraged each other.  I remember people saying, “Come on!  Just three more!”  I remember people who were struggling to complete their own tasks looking over and seeing someone struggling more than they.  Calling out their names.  “You can do it!”  Cheering for each other.  Even grabbing a gi (formal karate training uniform) and helping pull someone up.

That’s how we ought to be living in this race and fight of the Christian life.  We need to be the ones telling our brothers and sisters, “Come on!  Don’t quit!  God’s strength is sufficient! … Give me your hand and we’ll run together.”  Grabbing the arm of the one who is falling and pulling them up.

This requires two things:  First, getting our eyes off ourselves and looking to the needs of others.  It is impossible to encourage someone else if all we can think about is ourselves.  It just is.  And it’s impossible to see the one who needs to be pulled up when all we see is ourselves. 

Second, we need to be willing to accept help.  You won’t always be the one who is strong.  There will be days when you just want to throw in the towel and pitch the running shoes.  And you will need that helping hand.  Trust me.  But the thing is, before we can accept help, we have to be open and admit to not being perfect.  Perfect people don’t need help, or so everyone thinks.  But they do.  Because they’re not perfect.  Neither are you.  And if you wear a shiny veneer of perfection, when you really need help, no one will know it.

When you are almost out of energy physically, others can see it.  And that’s when you will hear them cry, “Keep going!  Don’t quit!”  Be open and willing to accept encouragement and a helping hand.  You never know when you might need it.

And so, my friends, keep going.  Don’t quit.  Never give up.  By God’s grace, we’ll make it together.

Who Will It Be?

“Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.  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 24:14-15

We are in a battle.  We are being warred over and we are, like it or not, to be engaged in the war.  But in order to do that, we have to choose a side.

As Christians, we owe our loyalty to Christ.  But the question is whether that is merely a philosophical loyalty or a loyalty proclaimed by our actions.  You see, I once heard someone say that if the devil can’t have our soul, he will try to steal our witness. 

“Be of sober spirit, be on the alert.  Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” ~1 Peter 5:8

Who do your actions say you are serving?  God?  Yourself?  The devil?

“…for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.” ~2 Peter 2:19

It is your choice.  But here’s what God has to say:

“For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.  Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.  Therefore, DO NOT LET SIN REIGN in your mortal body that you obey its lusts, and DO NOT GO ON PRESENTING the members of YOUR BODY AS INSTRUMENTS OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.  For sin shall not be master over you…” ~Romans 6:10-14

Now, it’s easy to give philosophical assent to something.  To mentally subscribe to a cause, yet live in a way that shows that our loyalty, in all practicality, lies elsewhere.

So I ask you: where do your actions say your loyalty lies?  Do they show a complete loyalty to Christ or to your own desires or habits?

Yes, habits.  A habit can be a master.  Remember, you are a slave, giving your loyalty, to whatever you allow to overcome you.  And habits are perhaps the most dangerous of potential masters because we serve them unconsciously.

In terms of the devil’s strategies, doing his best to blind us to sinful habits seems to be effective.  As long as we are serving something other than Christ, he is happy.  As Christians, we are called to be God’s bondservants.  But living in bondage to a sinful habit makes us slaves to sin once again.

What is to be done?

“Submit therefore to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double minded.” ~James 4:7-8

Resist.  I wish it was easier.  Resistance is hard, partly because it is on-going.  It’s not a “do-it-once-and-be-done” kind of thing.  But the first step in resistance is to realize that there is someone and something that needs to be resisted.  We need to take a close look at our own lives and see where we are living with misplaced loyalty, what, besides Christ, we are serving.  It might be conscious sin or it might be unconscious habits. 

The next step is to make a choice.  These other loyalties need to go.  Make a conscious choice to serve God in whatever area of life you find is enslaved to sin.  As the Israelites started a new life in Canaan, Joshua issued a challenge.  The people had recently left an official bondage and slavery in Egypt.  Now they faced a new issue. Another potential slavery.  Joshua realized this.  He told them they had to choose who they would serve – God or the false gods of the nations around them.

Now, even when we aren’t fully serving Christ, we don’t usually think of ourselves as serving the gods of the people around us.  But think about it.  If the people around you, who have not declared an allegiance to Christ, are serving their own sinful desires and habits and are putting those things first in their lives, those things have, in a sense become their gods.  And if you are serving those same things, you are essentially serving the gods of the people around you.

So I issue Joshua’s challenge to you:  Choose today who you will serve.  Your choices are the God who sacrificed Himself to redeem you or, if you aren’t willing to fully become His servant, the sinful desires and habits of those around you.

You will serve someone.  Now who will it be?

“…for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.” ~2 Peter 2:19

“Be of sober spirit, be on the alert.  Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  But resist him, firm in your faith…” ~1 Peter 5:8-9a