I Choose Him

When I started writing my blog I made a commitment to myself to write every Sunday. I also made sure that every Sunday I chose the verse I would be focusing on the coming week. These two things were to hold me accountable as well as give me something to write about. As I sat down to write yesterday, however, I came up with nothing; nada. I guess this is what they call writer’s block! After about an hour and a half of nothing I shut down the computer and said I would try again in the morning. Still nothing. Then I thought, I’ll just pick a new verse. But no, I believe God lays a verse on my heart for a reason ( I just can’t always figure out what it is! ) so I’m sticking with Joshua 24:15,”But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” A little background here – Joshua had been the personal assistant of Moses throughout the 40 years of wandering through the wilderness, and he was Moses’ successor. It was in his “farewell address” to his people that Joshua spoke this verse. He was reminding the idolatrous Israelites that the only one they should be worshipping was God himself who had proven His trustworthiness. Joshua was imploring the people to make a conscious choice to always serve God. My point was going to be that God gives us free will to choose whether or not we have a relationship with Him. Then I was going to tell you why I choose Him (basically because I can’t imagine life without His love, grace, forgiveness, hope, help…) but as I kept pondering over this verse I couldn’t think of what to write. Why was I so stuck? Maybe, just maybe, I wasn’t meant to write about it for you until I figured out what it really meant for me. Am I really choosing to serve God? I think I am, I belong to a church, I pray, I write this blog. I do a lot of things I think make God happy. But is it enough?

Let’s face it. We live in a world where we are surrounded with beautiful merchandise we want to fill our homes and closets with even though we have plenty already, appetizing food our bellies crave but don’t always need, easy ways to squander our hard earned money without leaving enough for necessities. The things around us can easily become “idols”, pulling us away from God. It happens to all of us. I’ll confess. Not too long ago I would wake up every morning, grab a cup of hot coffee, and sit on the couch with my Bible. I would start off by praying to and being quiet with God, I would then read a passage in the Bible and reflect on it. Finally, I would spend the last few minutes mentally preparing for the day ahead. I loved starting my day off like this. It gave me the peace, hope, and encouragement I needed to get through the day. I felt more connected to God, saw more of His blessings around me and felt His answers to my prayers. Fast forward to today. I still grab my coffee and curl up on the couch. But instead of my Bible in my hand, it’s my phone. First I check my email, then social media, the obituaries to see if anyone I know has passed and the news. I do this up until the very second I need to get ready for work. Instead of filling my thoughts with God and His goodness, and preparing for my day in a positive way, I have filled them with “must have’s”, “must do’s”, a lot of anxiety and sadness, rushing to get my day going, already feeling a step behind. This is not what I want. Nor is it what God wants for us. This is no way to feel connected to Him! But it happened, gradually and before I knew it I was choosing worldly things over God. So starting tomorrow morning (it’s almost bedtime now so I’m not putting it off!) I will be sitting on the couch with my coffee and Bible, starting my day off right! God can give me so much more than social media can. This is what I needed to realize. I hope you will think about choosing to spend time with Him as well.

While I am spending time in prayer with God, I will be thanking Him for His many wonderful gifts including forgiveness. If you are feeling like you could use His gift of forgiveness, too, please join me next week to learn more about how you can receive it . Luke 5:20 says “When Jesus saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven”.

Love, Melissa