“Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.” (Joshua 24:15)
Every day begins with choices. Most are small: what to have for breakfast, whether to hit the snooze button and spend a few more minutes in bed, what to wear, whether to start that load of laundry now or wait (I started it this morning).
Other choices go a little deeper. I’ve been dreading making a phone call; will I do it today or put it off? Is today the day to make a career – or life – change?
For Joshua, now the leader of his people following the death of Moses, there’s one more important question. Perhaps it’s the most important question we will face. But the most important question is built on a series of other ones.
What most captures my attention? How do I define success? What or who do I trust when life becomes uncertain? What voice do I listen to most?
In Joshua 24, the question becomes a challenge: “Choose this day whom you will serve.”
Joshua wasn’t asking them to decide who they would occasionally worship. He was telling them to decide who would serve: face toward and orient their lives around. Because eventually our habits, priorities, worries, and loyalties reveal what sits at the center of our lives. And if we don’t decide who we will serve and work to make it happen, we will default to ourselves.
Joshua knows this. He knows people drift, get busy, get focused on the simple questions that start our day. Faith can slowly become background noise if left unattended.
Honestly, most of us don’t wake up intending to move away from God. We simply become distracted. Life fills with responsibilities, errands, obligations, and endless text messages and emails. Days become crowded and noisy.
Who we ultimately serve says a lot about who we ultimately trust. And to stubbornly not choose is a default choice. One way or another, we will prioritize the most important thing.
Perhaps that is why Joshua’s words still matter. Faith isn’t only a belief we hold; it is a direction we continually choose. Choose this day. Then tomorrow, choose again. And perhaps consider joining Joshua, who said: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Prayer: Faithful God, thank you for meeting me in the ordinary choices of daily life. Help me choose today and every day what leads toward your love, peace, and wisdom. When distractions pull my attention elsewhere, gently draw me back to you. Teach me to what it means to serve you. Amen.
