The Spark We Need to Choose to Serve God
By: Brent Wakefield
We will never choose to serve a God we don’t believe has delivered us.
We might make overtures. We might try because it seems right. We might even actually serve in some capacity for a season. But to come to a moment like Joshua experienced where he could stand and truthfully say in front of everyone, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”. . . if we don’t fully trust that God has indeed delivered us from ultimate peril, the “choice” to serve Him will always be fluid among the circumstances of life. Joshua knew this, which is why, before offering the Israelites the choice, he recounted their history. God’s history.
Joshua explained that the Lord began a work in Abraham that culminated when He sent Aaron and Moses to Egypt to free Jacob and his children from slavery. It was the Lord who parted the Red Sea and drowned the Egyptian army. It was the Lord who remained with the Israelites in the wilderness. And it was the Lord who delivered up Jericho, foreign armies, and Amorite kings unto defeat. It was the Lord who gave them everything they had.
It was on the heels of remembering God’s deliverance—all that He had done—that the people were able to say, “Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God” (Joshua 24:18).
- Do you feel overwhelmed with the task of leading your family in fully serving God?
- Do you believe you have experienced God’s redemptive work in your life?
- Are you completely worn down with the activities of life: sports, school, hobbies, work?
- Do you believe you’ve been fully delivered from worrying about what others think of you or whether God will take care of your kids?
- Is there a sense that you are trapped in a spot from which you cannot escape?
- Do you believe God can lift the burden of sin in that one area of life where you continually fail?
The list could go on and on. But the answers always boil down to what we believe about God’s ability to deliver us.
While the people of Israel had much to look back upon to spark their desire to serve the Lord, we have even more. God fully delivered us through the cross of Jesus Christ, when He emptied the tomb three days later, when He lifted Jesus back into the heavens, and when He sent the Holy Spirit as our helper. In the complete, redemptive work of the Messiah, we have been delivered from hell, from sin, and from hopelessness . . . and into an eternity in paradise with Christ, the saints of old, our families and friends, and the nations.
Yes, we have been fully delivered. That’s why we can say (by His grace alone) that, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Not just this year. Not after basketball or soccer season. Not when things quiet down and we have more time. Now.
As men, women, and children who have been fully delivered, we will choose to serve the Lord.
We might make overtures. We might try because it seems right. We might even actually serve in some capacity for a season. But to come to a moment like Joshua experienced where he could stand and truthfully say in front of everyone, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”. . . if we don’t fully trust that God has indeed delivered us from ultimate peril, the “choice” to serve Him will always be fluid among the circumstances of life. Joshua knew this, which is why, before offering the Israelites the choice, he recounted their history. God’s history.
Joshua explained that the Lord began a work in Abraham that culminated when He sent Aaron and Moses to Egypt to free Jacob and his children from slavery. It was the Lord who parted the Red Sea and drowned the Egyptian army. It was the Lord who remained with the Israelites in the wilderness. And it was the Lord who delivered up Jericho, foreign armies, and Amorite kings unto defeat. It was the Lord who gave them everything they had.
It was on the heels of remembering God’s deliverance—all that He had done—that the people were able to say, “Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God” (Joshua 24:18).
- Do you feel overwhelmed with the task of leading your family in fully serving God?
- Do you believe you have experienced God’s redemptive work in your life?
- Are you completely worn down with the activities of life: sports, school, hobbies, work?
- Do you believe you’ve been fully delivered from worrying about what others think of you or whether God will take care of your kids?
- Is there a sense that you are trapped in a spot from which you cannot escape?
- Do you believe God can lift the burden of sin in that one area of life where you continually fail?
The list could go on and on. But the answers always boil down to what we believe about God’s ability to deliver us.
While the people of Israel had much to look back upon to spark their desire to serve the Lord, we have even more. God fully delivered us through the cross of Jesus Christ, when He emptied the tomb three days later, when He lifted Jesus back into the heavens, and when He sent the Holy Spirit as our helper. In the complete, redemptive work of the Messiah, we have been delivered from hell, from sin, and from hopelessness . . . and into an eternity in paradise with Christ, the saints of old, our families and friends, and the nations.
Yes, we have been fully delivered. That’s why we can say (by His grace alone) that, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Not just this year. Not after basketball or soccer season. Not when things quiet down and we have more time. Now.
As men, women, and children who have been fully delivered, we will choose to serve the Lord.
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