God's Word For Today

Daily Devotional

Life’s Most Important Choice

Read Joshua 23:1 through 24:33

“But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). 

Serving the Lord has rarely been easy. For the Israelites of Joshua’s day, it meant being different from the people around them. It meant sacrificing their best to God. It meant giving up one day a week for rest and worship—a day when they could harvest crops, go to market, or party with friends. It could also mean going to war against Canaanites still occupying Israel.

For Christians today it can mean loss of a promotion, loss of friends, or taking an unpopular moral stand. That’s a small price to pay for a clear conscience, peace of mind and heart, God’s approval, and a reward in heaven. 

A young aid worker martyred by a radical group wrote that her mother told her that in the end all you have is God. It’s true. He is all that really matters.

Challenge for Today: Choose to serve God.

Quicklook: Joshua 24:14–18