Day 5

The scriptures for today are:
Joshua 24:1-33
Psalm 89:38-52
Proverbs 13:20-23
Luke 21:1-28

Joshua is now finished and I am excite to go through Judges. Joshua ended with a choice. Will you serve God or will you perish. Not really a choice in my mind, but it was presented like a choice. Of course, everybody chose to serve God. We make this very simple choice on a daily basis. I make this choice on a daily basis. i am heartbroken to say that I don't always choose God. I know I wont be struck down with a lightning bolt or something like that, but it is far too easy to choose something other than God. Right now as I sat here reading my bible and making this journal entry my XBox is calling me from the living room. Its easy to flip a switch and enter a world of fast cars or guns. This time I choose God. I threw myself into his word and entered into his presence and I do not regret it. I have been wrapped in a kind of peace, and quiet joy that can only come from spending time with Christ. Joshua gave everybody that same choice. Not only did they choose God but they chose God for generations. Maybe for them it was an easy choice. They sure made it seem like it was. I can picture them just giving Joshua a stupid look and going DUH!, we choose God. Look what he has done for us. How could you not choose to follow him.
I look at what God has done for me and wonder how Could I not choose God? Yet day after day in some little way I don't Choose God. I choose TV, or basketball, or video games, or friends, or chores, something else that has no eternal value. now I am not saying that some of those things are not important, but are they THAT important. The practical side of me is thinking, well if you just managed your time better, or prioritized then you would not have to choose anything over God, but its more than that. I have the time and opportunity, but I choose wrong. I regret it. I enjoy my time with God. I feel like a better man, husband, father, employee, and friend when I do choose to spend time with God. God has delivered ME from so much, how can I not choose him over EVERYTHING?
Joshua made a new covenant with his people and maybe that was just to hold them accountable, but it worked. God worked. God made the unthinkable and impossible happen for his followers and unfortunately it took all of that for them to realize that god was in fact who he was claiming to be. I had the same pleasure. Through my situation and my life God has shown me that he not only exists, but that he loves and cares for me. Knowing this I have to celebrate my life and I am grateful for my past. Had I had a privileged home life I may not have come to realize just how powerful Christ is. My parents didn't really show me how powerful Christ was, so i had to depend on Christ to show me. He showed up in a big way in my life. I am grateful for that.
The reading in Luke is a little bit of the end times stuff. I tend to meditate a lot more lightly on these things and kind of just brush them off. I know that in the end, no matter what happens I will follow Christ and not deny him and as times get harder it only makes it more important to believe. I don't try to understand the end times and do not pretend to know too much about it. It far beyond my comprehension and it is going to happen whether or not I understand it. If I continue to Follow Christ and obey his law, then I will never be wrong. I can keep my faith regardless of my situation. Christ will never abandon me, why should I abandon him? the end will happen sometime. I am ready to follow Christ for all time. So, knowing that about myself, the end is really irrelevant. I know it to be true and have little doubt that it will happen exactly as Christ said it would, but the best I can do to prepare is to learn as much of his word as possible and guard my heart and mind from all the evils of the world.
Father God, help me to Choose you over everything else in this world. Make your presence huge in my life. Make it an easy choice in my mind. Mold me into a STRONG man of Christ. Make me a better husband, father, friend, and employee. When the time comes to choose you or death help to realize that I have already made the choice and I chose life. A life in Christ. A life where there is no death. Help me Lord, to renew my covenant with you on a daily basis. Help me to never forget what you have delivered me from. I choose to love you. Thank you for your perfect love. In Jesus name.-Amen