3.143 We Will Serve the Lord

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as Savory Salt.

Hello, my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose Ye This Day Whom You Will Serve.

Let's travel back to the 1900s, shall we? The day and age where on the walls of houses Names for the Bibles Joss. And yet it sits in our kitchen the same as I remember it sitting in our front room when I was a child.

We are reading this week Joshua, and today and tomorrow I'm going to reverse the scriptures. So we're going to actually come out of Joshua 24 today and then back up to Joshua 23 tomorrow. Don't worry, I hope these can connect.

Sometimes I just do it even if I don't think it's going to connect. I hope these two can connect as we go back into our time machine to the 1900s. Now, what am I talking about there?

I'm talking about a picture frame that my mom had in our living room that I can remember from my earliest days. It comes from Joshua chapter 24. Here the Israelites have gotten the land, the promised land through their battles, through their struggles.

And the Lord continues to warn them that if they do not follow the commandments given to them by a living prophet, they will suffer the consequences and ultimately they will lose the promised land again. And here inside of Joshua chapter 24, we have Joshua emphasizing the importance of following the Lord. And it produces what we've been using as our theme at the start of our podcast in season three here.

You recognize it as we go through the verse. Joshua chapter 24 verse 15 is our verse for today and the theme I've been using to open season three: "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Now, my friends, we live in a day and age where neighbors come from all sorts of different backgrounds, cultures, countries.

We live in a day and age where religions are mixed and mingled, practices, political practices, political beliefs, neighborhoods, family life. All of these things are different around us. How do we find common ground there or if it's I believe this verse has helped me through my entire childhood to be able to have something to hold on to, even if I live in a world around me that I don't know what to hold on to.

This one has stuck in my brain because I have seen it over and over. I don't even know the number of days now that I have seen this quote: "Choose you this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." My friends, we can be friendly and friends with neighbors who have differing beliefs.

Absolutely. There's no question to that. There's also an opportunity for us to share our beliefs when the opportunity presents itself and to listen to others' beliefs as well.

At the end of the day, everyone gets to choose. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. I love that message.

I'm grateful to my parents for having that wonderful, brassy, goldy-covered picture frame in our house. I'm grateful to have it in my kitchen today as my girls see it and kind of laugh about how old it looks. That's all for today, my friends.

You and I have come here for such a time as this. Step forward in faith and let's be savory salt. We will be here tomorrow and we hope.