Who Do We Serve

In Joshua 24:15, Joshua asks his people to make a bold decision:  "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."  Each of us must answer;  who will we serve?

Now I'm pretty sure I've never served the gods of the Amorites but I tell you what I have served all too often:  man.  Throughout my life I have all too often worried about what others thought of me.  I have struggled with self-esteem issues all my life (I'm pouring my heart out here....I feel like I should be laying on a couch in therapy) and get bogged down in worries over what others think of me.  This is BAD!! God continues to teach me and remind me that many of my anxieties are built around pleasing others.  Jesus said "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell."  A few verses later He says "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in Heaven.  But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven."  

We want people to like us.  We want people to be happy with us.  We want people to accept us.  We want people to be pleased by what we do.  Of course we do . . . but are we doing that at the expense of our relationship with Jesus Christ?  Oh to be like Paul.  In Galatians 1 Paul writes, "Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God?  Or am I trying to please men?  If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."  After Paul surrendered to Christ his life became about nothing else but serving Christ, and pleasing Christ.  In his walk with Christ, he upset a lot of people.  He disappointed a lot of people, and he paid a physical price for that.  However, his desire was to serve Christ, and not to please man.

Pray today for the strength and willingness to serve Christ only.  Pray that the Holy Spirit would overwhelm you to the point where you are not concerned with what others think, but only with pleasing Jesus Christ.  Joshua asked the Israelites who they would serve, and then proclaimed "But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord".  

Serve the Lord today, not man.