Who You Gonna Serve?

If you're an older fellow like me you might remember a song in the 60s by Bob Dylan called "Everyone Has To Serve Somebody." I didn't think much about the song at the time other than wondering if Dylan would ever get over his cold. He didn't. That's the way he always sounds.

I had no idea the song would have a biblical meaning as my passage today comes from the book of Joshua. "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." Joshua 24:15

I talked on Monday about choice and that we have decisions all day long that require us to choose. This verse tell us we another. We have to decide are we going to follow after God and serve Him or are we not? The context of this verse if Joshua encouraging the Israelites before his death to renew their commttment to the Lord after the long struggle to reach the Promised Land and defeat all the inhabitants of the land, he did not want them to fall away from God and start worshipping idols.

Our application today is not a lot different. The Bible says we can't serve two masters. He wants our undivided attention. He doesn't want us worshipping the things of this world, but rather worshipping the creator of the world. It's important enough to Him that it's in His top two commandments about no other gods except him and not worshipping idols.

If we are not picking up our cross daily, then it's easy for us to be serving everyone else except Him. I looked up the original Hebrew word for serve and interestingly enough the word is "abad" and it's pronounced aw-bad. It literally means "to labor." It doesn't come easily to serve someone else yet alone to serve God. It takes a conscious choice.

So how to we serve God? By serving others. Look for ways to meet the needs of someone besides yourself. Jesus said it best in Matthew 10:42 "And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will be surely rewarded." Jesus is saying it doesn't need to be a big donation or a grand gesture, just meet a need for someone. It won't go unnoticed.

I have to go. I have to get my wife's coffee.