There are times when God’s Word will not let a man hide behind excuses. It brings the choice right out into the open. Joshua said, “choose you this day whom ye will serve” Joshua 24:15.
Joshua was not speaking to people who had no knowledge of God. Israel had seen what the LORD had done. God had brought Abraham out from among idol worshipers. God had delivered Israel from Egypt. God had brought them through the wilderness. God had given them a land they did not build and cities they did not earn. Before Joshua called them to choose, he reminded them that God had already been faithful.
That is important because Joshua was not saying, “Try harder and maybe God will help you.” He was saying, look at what God has already done, and now serve Him with a whole heart. The LORD said, “I have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them” Joshua 24:13. They were standing in mercy. They were living in the fruit of God’s faithfulness.
Then Joshua says, “Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth” Joshua 24:14. That is where the issue comes down to the ground. It is not enough to say the right words. They had to put away the false gods. Joshua told them, “put away the gods which your fathers served” Joshua 24:14. They could not hold the LORD in one hand and idols in the other.
That is where this still speaks to us. A man can say he believes in God, but what does he serve when nobody is watching? What does he follow when Scripture crosses his will? What does he choose when obedience costs him something? That is where faith stops being talk and starts showing what it really is.
Jesus said, “No man can serve two masters” Matthew 6:24. He did not say it is hard to serve two masters. He said no man can do it. Something will rule the heart. It may be sin, pride, money, comfort, fear, approval, tradition, or self. But every person serves someone or something.
Joshua did not leave it vague. He said, “but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” Joshua 24:15. That was not empty religious talk. That was a settled stand. He was not waiting to see which way the crowd leaned. He was not trying to please everybody. He knew who God was, and he knew what God had done.
This points us straight to Christ. Joshua led Israel into the land, but Jesus brings sinners to the Father. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” John 14:6. No one truly serves God while rejecting the Son. Scripture says, “He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him” John 5:23.
So this is not just about making a better life decision. This is about allegiance. Who has the right to command your life? Who owns your heart? Who gets the final word when your feelings, your plans, and the Word of God do not agree?
There are moments when God puts truth in front of us, and we know it. We may not like what it exposes. We may not want to give up what it touches. But once the Word of God has spoken, the issue is no longer whether God has been clear. The issue is whether we will bow.
The Christian life is not lived by drifting. It is lived by trusting and obeying the Lord. Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” John 14:15. That does not mean obedience saves us. We are saved by grace through faith, not of works. But real faith does not make peace with rebellion.
The choice Joshua put before Israel still cuts today. Not because God is unsure, but because man so often is. The LORD is faithful. The question is whether we will serve Him in sincerity and truth.
When God’s Word puts the choice in front of you, what are you still holding that keeps you from saying, “as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD”?
