By: Reverend J. Loren Russell
Joshua 24:14-15 NKJV
“Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
There is nothing like family. You don’t have the luxury of choosing or selecting them. Families are God-given, even for those who are adopted by families who are not biologically their blood relatives.
Families can be many things to many people, sometimes good and sometimes bad. I have seen families that are at each other’s throats on a daily basis, and I have seen families that stick together no matter what. Thanks to modern technology, some families get to know their biological families after the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) test confirms it. But one way or another, there is nothing like family.
In the text, Joshua is addressing the children of Israel. The Bible says that he gathered all the tribes of Israel, summoning the elders, leaders, judges, and officers. All of them were descendants of Abraham who was the son of Terah, the man who dwelt in the land on “the other side of the river.” That’s where the Lord God took Abraham from and led him through the land of Canaan and multiplied his family. It was a great family legacy, but there were skeletons in the closet.
Joshua addresses the descendants, telling them their history, how they had been blessed with land and possessions that the Lord gave them. He told them how the Lord had given them victory after victory, conquest after conquest, miracle after miracle, living in a land that they neither labored on nor built, and eating from vineyards they did not plant. Now they are standing at the precipice of the Promised Land and Joshua is telling them to put away the gods that their fathers served on the other side of the river and those they served in Egypt.
Joshua is, like they are, a descendant of Abraham and Terah also. His past is the same as theirs. So he personalizes his admonition and says, ”if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Terah and Abraham’s family worshiped pagan gods on the other side of the river, and some worshiped them while they were in Egypt and in the land they now dwelt. Joshua reminds them that every family has skeletons. That’s why each family, further, everyone individually, must decide for themselves who they are going to serve. I can’t speak for my entire family, but personally, I echo Joshua in saying, “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Be Blessed!
Rev. J. Loren Russell is an associate minister at Goodwill Baptist Church and is the spiritual leader of both LaGree Baptist Church and the Evangelical Church of God, all in the Bronx, President/CEO of The JLR Company for Church Financial & Strategic Consulting (718-328-8096), and is the creator and host of “Matters of Faith – The Radio Show” on Monday nights from 8:00 – 10:00 PM on Facebook Live. Be sure to ‘Friend’ the Matters of Faith YouTube Channel. Email us at mattersoffaith.mof@gmail.com. Order your copy of Matters of Faith: The eBook at www.smashwords.com/books/view/993177.
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