Time To Pick A Side!

But if you don’t want to serve the Lord, you must choose for yourselves today whom you will serve. You may serve the gods that your ancestors worshiped when they lived on the other side of the Euphrates River, or you may serve the gods of the Amorites who lived in this land. As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua 24:15 

 

Ever been asked why you choose to believe the way you do?  Ever chosen any other way to believe or have you ever chosen not to believe because you couldn't understand why things happened the way they did?

 

November 17, 1981, my world came crashing in and I admit that I began to question why I believed some of the things I believed.  In fact, when I got to college (at a BAPTIST school) the only church I would attend were the Tuesday morning required Chapel services where I spent my time either reading, sleeping, or finishing up a project.  I was not sure that what I believed was true!  So I took time to stop for a couple of years.  I took a few more years re-evaluating what I had been taught to believe.  Those 10 years were spent wondering and wandering.  

 

Then I found a book called "A Scandalous Freedom" by Steve Brown.  This was followed by a whole list of books that seemed as though were written just for me.  One of the points made through these authors is that we must look at WHAT we choose to worship because, after all, worship is a choice we make.

 

What do you worship?  

• Perhaps it's your job. Your job comes before everything and everyone.  Your job defines who you are and gives you great satisfaction at the cost of your friendships, relationships, and when you retire...you are left wondering what to do with yourself.  
• Perhaps it's your children.  You take pride in their accomplishments and gush with pride at their antics.  You ignore your spouse and those who don't worship your children with you because, "they just don't get it."  When your children are grown, you wonder what happened to them and what to do with yourself.
• Maybe it's sports.  You play sports, watch sports, quote all the statistics, schedule your day so you don't miss a single moment of a single game.  You might even go so far as to spend countless dollars on paraphernalia and memorabilia devoting entire rooms in your home to SPORTS!
• Some even worship church.  Odd, how that sounds, but it's the truth.  They worship church because the band plays songs we like to hear; the preacher is dynamic and preaches sermons make me feel good but doesn't make me understand that I need to make some changes.  The socials are great!

My point is this, every single one of us choose to worship something.  My life experience has taught me that the things I worshiped did not last and did not help.  Oh, they gave me moments of escape from reality for a while, but it wasn't long lasting and it wasn't satisfying. But there comes a time when we have to choose whose side we're going to be on.  Jesus told us, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. NO man comes to the Father except through Me" - John 14:6.  Jesus promised to be with us and never ever leave us.  My life experiences have proven that to me over and over.

This is not like picking teams for dodgeball where someone else decides whose team you end up on.  In life, YOU make the choice!  Please, choose wisely.