|
CHOOSE
FOR YOURSELF THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE
The words “Choose
for yourselves this day whom you will serve” is
part of a scripture verse taken from Joshua 24:15 where Joshua gave
his last message to the Israelites before he died at the age of 110
years.
Life is just full
of decisions. We make hundreds of decisions everyday
pertaining to ourselves, in our work, our play, our home, our morals
and
how we react in our associations. In making decisions, we need to
remember that there is a spiritual side of life also. This is known
to us by
instinct as well as by scripture. God made mankind with a body, soul
and spirit. The soul and spirit is the unseen, immortal part of a person
(lives forever) and in essence is who we really are. God gave us a body
to “house” our soul and spirit so that we can function in
the world that
we live in. It is through our body that we think, see, hear, communicate
and are able to manipulate material things on this earth whereby we
can enjoy our temporal stay in this world. God also made us free agents
in what we think, do and say. We are not robots, we are on our own to
choose what is right or wrong, choose good or evil, choose to have
Christ in our lives or reject Him.
Choose for yourself
this day whom you will serve.
“Prepare to
meet your God” (Amos 4:12). The thought derived from
this verse is the most important action that a person can make in life.
To be prepared, we need to be a member of God’s family (God’s
child). From the
following scriptures, may each one of us receive from the Lord the
knowledge needed to have a full understanding of how a person can be
one of God’s family.
John 3:16 “For
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life.” God has made a way for everyone to become a
child
of God, but it is up to each individual to accept Christ into their
life,
trusting and believing God for salvation. In doing this we will find
a quality of life that has meaning, a purpose and receive from the Lord
a type of
peace and satisfaction that cannot be achieved in any other way.
Romans 3:23 “For
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. Sin
is disobeying God. No one in all honesty can ever say that they have
not sinned or that they do not sin. Sin puts a barrier between us and
God so
that we remain separated from God until we acknowledge that we have
sinned and ask God to forgive us of our sin.
Romans 6:23 “For
the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Ephesians 2:8-9
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should
boast”. We do not in any way get sin cancelled or gain entrance
to
Heaven by striving to live a good life. Salvation is not a reward for
the good that we may do, our salvation comes from Christ who died on
the cross
in our place to pay the penalty for our sin. We must individually receive
Christ as our Saviour and Lord.
Ephesians 1:7 “In
Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according
to the riches of His grace.”
Revelations 3:20
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone
hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with
him, and he with me.” To become a christian (to be a member of
God’s
family), we invite Christ to come into our hearts and life and abide.
This involves making a commitment of turning to God from self, and
by faith, trusting and believing in God, asking God for the forgiveness
of
sin and allowing God to have control of our lives.
2 Corinthians 5:17
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation,
old things have passed away; behold all things have become new.”
When
someone becomes a christian, he becomes a brand new person inside
he is not the same anymore. This new life is what being “born again”
is.
God’s spirit (The Holy Spirit) comes into our lives and transforms
us when we invite Christ to come and live in our hearts and life. Our
past sin is
forgiven and forgotten and there is a change in our life style because
God has put a desire in our hearts to serve the Lord.
Romans 8:9 “But
you are not in the flesh but in the spirit, if indeed the
spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit
of
Christ, he is not His.” Even though we have the desire to do God’s
will
and serve Him when we have God’s Spirit living within us, we are
not
free from satans temptation to sin. We should treat every temptation
as an opportunity to say no to sin and yes to God.
Ephesians 5:3-7 “But fornication and all uncleaness or coveteousness,
let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints, neither
filthiness nor foolish talking nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting,
but
rather giving thanks for this you know, that no fornicator, unclean
person,
nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom
of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because
of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
Therefore do not be partakers with them.” The Lord does not want
us to
get involved in any sex sin, foul talk, dirty stories. We should be
careful
in our steps when having close friendships with people that do these
things because this type of environment can easily cause our mind to
become insensitive to sin. We may find ourselves thinking that there
is
really nothing wrong in doing things that God has told us not to be
partakers of. Seek christian company. When we find the same type of
morals depicted on T.V. or shown in the theatre which we are to avoid
ourselves from in real life, it seems very logical that our mind is
going
to be polluted when we listen and look at these things on the screen
or
T.V.
1 Corinthians 10:13
“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man;
but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted
beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the
way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”
Hebrews 10:24-25
“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good
works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the
manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you
see the day approaching”. May each one of us try to keep the priorities
of our time in the right order, God wants us to attend church and fellowship
with other believers. The church that we attend needs to be one that
teaches salvation comes only from Christ who shed His blood on the cross
for our sin. We need the fellowship of other believers for encouragement
and for help in our growth and service for the Lord as well as being
an
encouragement and showing love to other believers. A church cannot exist
without participants. The church is a body of many parts and each part
is
required to fulfill a specific need. Therefore God does expect us to
use
the talents that he has given us to help fulfill the various needs in
the
Lords work.
Choose for yourself
this day whom you will serve.
Here are some scripture
passages which if we keep these in mind in our
christian walk in life, we are of a surety going to be a blessing to
other
people and will exemplify Christ in our own lives.
God wants us to
have a spirit of love
John 13:34-35 “A
new commandment I give to you, that you love one
another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this
all
will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
The Lord wants
us to have a spirit of forgiveness
Matthew 6:14-15
“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly
Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses,
neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
We are asked not
to retaliate
Romans 12:17-18
“Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good
things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends
on you, live peaceably with all men.”
Luke 6:28 “Bless
those that curse you and pray for those who spitefully use you.”
God does not want
us to speak evil of others
1 Peter 2:1-2 “therefore,
laying aside all malice, all guile, hyprocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking,
as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow
thereby.”
We must not deny
Christ
Mark 8:38 “For
whosoever is ashamed of me and my words in this
adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of man also will be
ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the Holy
angels.”
A message for Christians
contemplating marriage
2 Corinthians 6:14
“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what
communion has light with darkenss?”
The love of money
can lead a person astray
1 Timothy 6:8-10.
“And having food and clothing with these we shall be content. But
those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into
many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which
some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and have pierced
themselves through with many sorrows.”
The attributes
of God’s Spirit
Galatians 5:22-23
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against
such there is no law.”
God forgives sin
when confessed
1 John 1:8-9 “If
we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and
the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
God will restore
an erring christian
James 5:19-20 “Brethren,
if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back,
let him know that he who turns a sinner from the
error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of
sins.”
Choose for yourself
this day whom you will serve.
Do you have comments
or questions about this letter? Click
here to email your response or click
here to learn more about what it means to be a Christian.
Scripture
Texts - New King James Version
|