It is up to you to choose who, you and your family, want to serve.

Monday July 12, 2021

It is up to you to choose who, you and your family, want to serve.

“There arose another generation which did not know the Lord.” Judges 2.10

Seeing the end of his life approaching, Joshua called together the elders, the rulers, the judges and the officers of Israel and said to them : “You have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations before you.” (Joshua 23.3). Many of the men present remembered being supernaturally nourished for forty years, seeing the Jordan River split open and the walls of Jericho crumble. Joshua clearly challenged them : “Choose who you want to serve today !” (Joshua 24.15). What did they do ? “Israel served the Lord all the life of Joshua” (v.31). But they served God superficially, and only when it suited them. The only military action left to them after Joshua's death was to remove the last traces of pagan worship that still remained in the territory of the Promised Land. Unfortunately, “Israel did not drive out the inhabitants” (Judges 1:27). While Joshua had dedicated his life to serving God with all his heart, the elders of the people were not fully devoted to God. And the result ? Their sons and daughters began to marry their pagan neighbors and eventually adopted their sin-dominated way of life. "There arose another generation which did not know the Lord... they angered the Lord... and they persevered in the same conduct and the same hardening" (Judges 2:10-12. 19). How were the spiritual values ​​of these young people shaped ? By the compromises their parents made. It is the decadence inherent in the new generations. It helps us understand how much we have been shaped by the attitudes of our parents, and gives us a glimpse of what influence, positive or negative, our own commitments and decisions will have on our children. Parents, you are the one leading the way. Give your children a deep and consistent spiritual teaching from an early age ! This way, if they rebel later, they can always return to the values ​​you instilled in them thanks to the memory they will have. Don't just talk to them about the Lord, behave in front of them every day, according to a way of life that pleases God !

Source (His Word for Today)