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What do you live for?
Joshua 24:14-24
Life is full of choices. What you choose to live for is the most important choice of all. It faces every human being and affects every aspect of your life. Once you have made this choice, it will help you to make every other choice in life.
Joshua, Moses’ successor as leader of the Israelites, at the end of his life, calls all the people to him and tells them they have to choose how to spend the rest of their lives. He says, ‘choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve’ (v.15).
I can remember the exact moment, when at the age of eighteen, I made that choice. It was undoubtedly the best and most important choice I have ever made.
1. Why do you have to choose?
Everyone is a servant – either voluntarily or involuntarily. Some people say, ‘I am free. I don’t serve anyone’. But that is not one of the options. We either serve ‘the Lord’ or ‘foreign gods’, as the passage says. The gods referred to here claimed to be modern and scientific with control over agriculture, sex and fertility. ‘Other gods’ in our context are any activities, habits or attitudes which lead us away from putting God first, such as materialism, promiscuity or self-centredness. Serving other gods leads eventually to emptiness, shame and death. It reduces our ability to control our own lives, the very opposite of what it promises. Serving the Lord leads to freedom and the ability to make the right decisions for ourselves and our families.
2. Why should you choose the Lord?
Joshua’s answer is that they should choose God because of what he has done for them: his call, gifts, deliverance, defeat of their enemies and the promises he has fulfilled (vv.17–18). From our perspective, God has sent his son Jesus to die for you and me and his Spirit to come and give us new life. He has liberated you from shame, addiction, fear and death. He has set you free to know God, to love and to be transformed into his likeness.
3. What does it mean to choose to serve him?
Joshua says they must ‘serve him with all faithfulness’ (v.14). Literally the word means ‘fullness’, ‘completeness’, ‘integrity’. These people thought they could serve the Lord and keep the other gods as well. But serving the Lord involves all your heart and all your life.
4. How do you choose to serve him?
Joshua’s answer (v.23) is two-fold:
- ‘throw away the foreign gods’
Make sure that God has no rivals for his affection in your heart. In the words of Dag Hammarskjold, former Secretary-General to the United Nations, ‘You cannot play with the animal in you without becoming wholly animal, play with falsehood without forfeiting your right to truth, play with cruelty without losing your sensitivity of mind. He who wants to keep his garden tidy doesn’t reserve a plot of weeds.’
- ‘yield your hearts to the Lord’
Put every area of your life into the hands of the Lord: your family, friends, time, work, money, sexuality, possessions and abilities.
At the beginning of the book of Joshua (Joshua 1:1), Moses is described as ‘a servant of the Lord’ and Joshua as his assistant. At the end of the book, Joshua is described as ‘the servant of the Lord’ (Joshua 24:29). The apostle Paul was proud to describe himself as ‘a servant of Jesus Christ’. Jesus saw himself as ‘the suffering servant’ (see Isaiah 53). To be a servant of God is the highest calling a person can ever receive. You can have this title – ‘servant of the Lord’ – if you choose to go on serving him throughout your life.
Choose for yourself this day whom you will serve (Joshua 24:16).
Why not ask God to reveal if there are any ‘other gods’ in your life? If there are, you could resolve today to get rid of them. Choose today to serve the Lord for the rest of your life. You will never regret it.
Prayer
Lord, today I chose to get rid of ‘other gods in my life…
I choose today to yield my heart again to you. Help me to make good choices in my life as I follow you.
References
© Nicky Gumbel, 2024
This reading plan is adapted from the book 30 Days by Nicky Gumbel. It is published by Hodder and Stoughton in the UK, and by HarperCollins Christian Publishing in the USA.
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About this Plan

Whether you're exploring the Bible for the first time or simply looking for a fresh perspective, this plan offers a clear, compelling overview of the world’s bestselling book. Journey from creation to cross through 30 key messages, exploring both the Old and New Testaments, with practical insights from Nicky Gumbel.
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