“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
At the point when the Israelites crossed over the River Jordan into the Promise Land under the leadership of Joshua, Joshua made the declaration in the Bible passage today. To Israel, it was a new start to a whole new life in entirely new land. The future was before them. But the choice was also theirs to make. If they choose other gods from the start, according to the Covenant they have with God, disaster will come upon them.
You see, God was not “threatening” His people. He merely spelled out the terms of the Covenant, together with the consequences of rebelling against Him and serving Him for them to choose. This coming year of 2019, I sense that God is bringing us to a new start for new things. I sense that He desires to give us “a land on which we did not toil and cities we did not build; and we live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that we did not plant.” (Joshua 24:13).
Therefore, make a conscious choice today – to serve Him only and reject all other gods or things that we have used to substitute God in our lives. Let us determine to get rid of the “idols” we relied on in our lives. For ourselves and our own household, and the household of God’s family, say as Joshua did, “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord!”
Determine to make an uncompromising start for this year of 2019!
List down 3 things which you want to do differently this year. Commit them to the Lord and ask Him to help you to have an uncompromising start.