Who do you serve?

"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

Who do you serve?


In today's society it almost seems impossible to serve just God. We tend to let other things master us. Maybe it is school, athletics, friends or maybe you are a parent and it is your kids events, athletics, jobs, and so much more. We tend to put God aside when we get really busy and then maybe when we aren't busy we might decide to pick up a devotional book.

I am right there with you. I sometimes think that I am too busy for God. Now, I don't actually say this or realize that I am doing this, but if you look at my life I think you could see this attitude many times. I start to make excuses for why I don't do certain things like read my bible or pray. I say I don't have time or "I studied my bible for the lesson that I am going to teach on Wednesday that should be good for a week or so."

Who do you serve?

I love sports. I watch ESPN it seems like 24/7. I have a passion for sports and enjoy watching them. I can watch the same SportCenter 5 times in a row and never get bored. I hardly ever miss a day without watching ESPN. I am very faithful to it, I spend at least an hour (more like 3) watching ESPN. What is weird about this relationship that I have with ESPN is that it has never done a thing for me. In fact ESPN doesn't even know that I exist. But I am still very faithful to it.

Who do you serve?

It is a very simple question, yet a hard one to answer. It shouldn't be this hard it should be a no brainer right? Do I serve ESPN that doesn't care about me or a person that died for me so that I could go to heaven even though he knew that I was going to mess up every day? Easy Jesus Christ, but why do I struggle with letting things get in the way of my relationship with Christ? Now we could say, "well we are all human", but do you really want to live life that way, always making excuses.

What if not only did we decide who we were going to serve, but we told people who we served in everything we did? Not just our words, but also our actions. Talk is very cheap in today's world. My favorite example of living boldly is Peter. Peter is one of my favorite characters in the Bible. Now he does say some stupid things every now and then, but he is also the first person to take action. In Acts time and time again he is the one that speaks very boldly to the officials even through intense persecution. This is the same Peter that seemed to always be sticking his foot in his mouth in the Gospels.

In Acts 5, I think Peter sums up what it looks like to serve God and not anything else. The apostles had just been arrested for preaching about Jesus Christ. They were put in jail and during the night an Angel appeared to them, opened the prison doors and told them to go preach in the temple. Now I don't know if you understand what just happened or not, but basically the Angel busted them out of jail. The next morning the jailer cannot find the prisoners anywhere and then finally they find them preaching in the temple. Can you imagine how ticked off the chief priests were? To make a long story short the officials bring the apostles before a council and basically say we told you not to preach the gospel yet you are doing just what we told you not to do. This is where Peter stands up and says,"We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him." (Acts 5:29-32)

What boldness and conviction Peter had! We must realize why we should serve God before we know if we serve him. God gave you everything you have and all he wants is for us is to live for him. It shouldn't be hard. Live boldly for your Savior and let him be your master in everything you do. "Obey God rather than men."

Who do you serve?

- Ryan