Blogging through Joshua: No compromise.

Joshua 24

Joshua continues to exhort the people to faithfulness. He seems imply that there were many Israelites who still practiced the pagan ways of their ancestors who had left Egypt or had adopted the idolatries of the surrounding nations including Mesopotamia, Egypt and Canaan. Perhaps there were Israelites who thought they could worship these gods of their fathers and worship Yahweh at the same time without disrespecting Him. As we have already seen, this is impossible. That is why Joshua gave the people a choice. He made the choice for himself and his whole family to serve Yahweh, but he could not force the people to do likewise. And yet they all agree to remain faithful to all that Yahweh has commanded.

 We too face the same choice the Israelites had. We think we can compromise and worship God while still accepting and treasuring the values and ideas of the world. Some of the things we value include money, sex, sports, clothing, possessions, fame, power, electronic gadgets, alcohol and drugs. We seem to talk about such things constantly as if they were the most important things in life. Yet the Lord God is supreme and will not accept worship that is divided. We must choose daily between the world and the Lord as we are in the midst of a culture that influences and pressures us to do evil. Any cannot compromise dishonors the Lord who loves us.