Whom will you serve?!

 “choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond 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 24:15).”

If you grew up in church, you probably heard this verse or memorized it or both. It is a popular verse, one made into plaques, signs, and house decor.

Yet, I believe there is coming a day when this verse will take on a whole new meaning.

Each time I turn on the news or read the news headlines for the day, I cringe, and wonder how it can get worse. Yet, I know it can, and that it probably will.

I believe we are living in a day and age where God is calling the Christians to take a stand for Him and His namesake. A day when we will in fact have to choose whom we will serve?

Will we serve the government, though it may ask us to go against what Scripture says?

Will we serve the enemy by going along with the world?

Will we serve ourselves, and want to just take the easy way out?

Each day we face the choice of whom we will serve that day.

We have to choose if we will serve family, friends, culture or the Lord.

Jesus never said it would be easy to follow Him, in fact He said the opposite, stating, that we should expect persecution and to be treated worse than even He.

Whom will we serve, whom will you serve?

It is easy to go to church on Sunday and Wednesday and be a Christian, but it is Monday through Saturday that show we are Christians.

It is the day to day, living what we preach that makes a difference.

How then do we show that we serve the Lord?

Simply put, by living out our faith.

Showing kindness, taking the time to notice the un-noticed, and being filled with the Spirit, so that Christ radiates through us.

It’s standing firm for what you believe in, even when it means going against what the world or your friends may say.

Its going the extra mile to help someone in need, even when it infringes upon your own time, resources, or both.

And it is really living what we say we believe.

It is past time that the church be the church. God has called us to be separate from the world and not to love the things of this world. Yet, far too often we look just like the world, and we lust after all the world has to offer.

So as the days grow darker, may we shine His light for all to see.

May we be His hands and feet, reguardless of the cost.

And may others see Jesus when they look at us.

As we choose each day to serve the Lord.

No greater joy

As a mom of two teen sons, and one almost teen daughter, I’m learning that being a mom to little kids though exhausting is totally different than being a mom to teens.

Oh don’t get me wrong. As a mom of little ones, it takes a lot of hard work, a lot of energy, and a lot of time. Yet, what your child does, where they go, and what they do is pretty much under your control.

Yet, as a mom of teens, it is a process of letting go and preparing them to soar on their own.

Our oldest graduates in May and our middle son the following year. And though it is exciting to see what God has in store for their lives, it is oh so hard to let go. Oh so hard to let them make their own choices and their own mistakes.

Thankfully, our youngest has a while left with us before she learns to fly, but I know that I will blink and it will be her graduating next.

As I have pondered the journey we are at as parents, I have realized that though I want them to be successful and to make it on their own. Though I desire that they find the ones their hearts can love, and make a life of their own. That the greatest desire of my heart is not any amount of earthly gain this world has to offer.

Rather, my greatest desire is to know that they are walking with the Lord and living for Him.

John writes, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth (3 John 1:4).”

This is my hearts desire. This is it.

For I know that if they are walking in the truth, if they are living for the Lord, then all the rest will work itself out.

Because the Lord will direct their steps and they look to Him.

He will open the doors for the job He has for them, because they are seeking to do His will.

The Lord will lead them to the one they are to marry, because they have chosen to wait upon Him rather than rushing into something not right.

And though this desire does not mean that they won’t have heartache. It doesn’t mean they won’t have trials, and it certainly doesn’t mean that they will be perfect.

What it does mean is that no matter what this world throws their way, they will have the assurance that the Lord is there with them no matter what.

So, I pray and will continue to pray as they step out into this dark world, that they will delight to know the Lord and to do His will. And holding on to the promise that, “He who began a good work in “them” will be faithful to complete it (Phil. 1:6).”