Choose This Day

Of all the recently-invented holidays we celebrate, one of my favorites has to be Make Up Your Own Holiday Day. It's fun to think of all the random -- or not so random -- things we could celebrate (though it is odd it's so close to holidays like Easter and St. Patrick's Day... but I didn't invent it). It may be a day to simply decide what may amuse you (on other years, I've celebrated everything from a favorite candy bar to dryer lint), or a day to really see what's important in your life.

As Joshua lead Israel, he was worried about their continued straying to the false gods of the nations around them. So, he issued an ultimatum:

“Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:14-15)

We have a choice daily -- even now. Will we serve our sinful natures, or will we serve God? Jesus reminds us in Matthew 6:24 (in a discourse also related in Luke 16:13): “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."

What's important to you? What does your life say? Are you chasing the dollar? The "American Dream?" The next big thing? Or are you seeking the will of the Savior? 

Every day is a choice: Whom will I serve? And every day is a re-commitment:  As for me and my house, we will -- gladly, joyously, prayerfully -- serve the Lord!