01 October 2007 Devotion for Today "Choices" Joshua 24:17

01 October 2007  Devotion for Today  “Choices”  Joshua 24:17

           

            Its amazing the number of choices we have available to us now that we didn’t used to have.  Being able to chose, to make choices, shows that we are in control- or gives the feeling of being in control, anyway.  It used to be when you ordered a cup of coffee, there would only be one kind of coffee, and they would ask you if you want cream in it or just black.  That was back in the day when they had the corner diner and they knew how to make coffee.  Now they have these gourmet coffee shops and it takes you about ten minutes to figure out what you want.  Now if you order coffee, they will ask you, do you want Brazillian, Turkish, Hawaiian, Kenyan, or Columbian.  You choose Colomibian they will ask do you want Regular or DeCafe.  You choose Regular and they will ask you- “Do you want mocha, cappuccino, expresso, mochachino, frappuchino, or latte.  Then they ask you what kind of flavor do you want in it, French vanilla, hickory nut, cinnamon, peppermint, lemon, almond, walnut, maple, orange, or chocolate.  You say, “what ever happened to the good old American plain cup of coffee? I want it black, and I want it hot.  That’s all I want!”  No, we don’t sell just a plain black cup of coffee- for that you have to go to the diner across the street!  You can get overwhelmed with the choices that are available to us these days!

            We may not have as many, but we do have a few choices with regard to our walk with the Lord Jesus Christ -and they should not be so overwhelming-

1) We can make the choice to do nothing: to stay where we are. 
2) We can make the choice to go in reverse: backtrack.  (which is really the same effect as choice #1.)
3) We can make the choice to move forward: grow and move forward.  Like that new flavor we never tried before we go into the unknown full of faith, knowing that we don’t ever want to go back to the way things were and we certainly don’t want to be stuck where we are. How can we follow through on our choice to move forward in our spiritual journey with Christ?
            Today I want to look at the book of Joshua and in it, we find a book that is chock-filled with choices.  They learned forty years previously that the choice of disobedience meant going nowhere-if not backward, for forty years.  In chapter one, they are making a choice finally to listen to God and to go into the land of Promise.  In the last chapter we read these precious choice words from  And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose 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 land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

            God has given us a choice- to abide in Him or not, to move forward with  Him or not, to obey Him or not.  God never forces Himself upon us or imposes His choices, but He does spell out clearly what the costs are and what the consequences will be either way. 

            Choose you this day- what choice are you going to make today?

Have a blessed day.

 

 

 

Rev. Jeffery C. Russell
Salem Baptist Church
Elizabeth City, NC
jefferyrussell@embarqmail.com

jcrussell@liberty.edu

 

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