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Every day we find ourselves having to make choices.  Diet soda or regular?  Caffeinated or decaf?  Should I wear white even though it’s after labor day?  While these are very trivial questions, they are things that make up our lives.  There are, of course, much bigger and grander questions: Who should I marry? Where should I work? Should I have children?  The answers to all of life’s questions, both big and small, are ultimately what makes and shapes our lives.

Without a doubt, the most important question we could ever ask is, “Should I seek to serve God?”  The answer to this question changes everything .  God knows this, and Joshua knew this as Israel’s leader.  He had just led the armies of Israel in claiming all of the land that God promised them while they were wandering in the wilderness (Joshua 21.43-45).    In his farewell address, Joshua’s emphasis was on the wonderful things that God had done for his people:

“The Lord has driven out great and powerful nations before you, and no one has been able to stand against you to this day. One of you routed a thousand, because the Lord your God was fighting for you, as He promised. So be very diligent to love the Lord your God for your own well-being. For if you turn away and cling to the rest of these nations remaining among you...you [will] disappear from this good land the Lord your God has given you (Joshua 23:9-13 HCSB).”

Joshua called the people of Israel to make a choice.  If there were other gods that they chose to worship, then they should worship those gods.  Joshua, however, chose to worship the Lord (Joshua 24.14-15).  This decision changed everything for Israel, and it changes everything for us.  Will we submit every area of our lives to God?  Will we follow his commands in our personal relationships as well as with our finances?  We must make a conscious choice to serve God every day with our every action and every thought.  We will be changed people if we do so.  God will do amazing things in our lives if we will only choose to worship and obey him (Josh 24.24).