As we sat down, a person we hadn’t met before came to the table. She said, “Hi, my name is Julie. Ricky has the day off today, and I will be your server. Can I get you some coffee before you order breakfast?”
“Sure thing,” Stan replied. “Two regulars.” He then added, “Glad to meet you, Julie!”
As she left to get the coffee, Stan commented, “What Julie just said opens the door to talk about something I was looking at earlier this morning in Luke’s gospel. Something Jesus said about serving.”
“What’s that? I asked.
“The importance of choosing who and what I’m going to serve,” he replied.
“What are the choices?”
“They’re just about endless,” Stan replied, “but Jesus put them into two basic categories, God and non-God. Jesus used the term, ‘mammon’ for what I call ‘non-God,’ but the basic choice is between serving God and serving everything that can get in the way of serving God.”
“Like self?” I asked.
“That’s right,” Stan said. “Self, along with the world, the flesh, and the devil. As I said, the individual choices are almost endless, but they all boil down to just two: God or something else.”
“Didn’t someone in the Old Testament have something to say about such choices?” I asked.
“These choices run throughout the entire Bible,” Stan said, “but you may be thinking about what Joshua had to say about choosing for yourself who you are going to serve. And, in regard to that, I think it’s important to note that Joshua said to choose for yourself ‘this day’ whom I am going to serve. It’s a daily choice.”
“Daily choice,” I repeated. “That’s kind of like what Jesus said about being a disciple, that after denying self, I am to take up what He has for me to take up ‘daily’.”
“More than ‘kind of like,’ my friend,” Stan said. “I put it in the category of being exactly like what the discipleship of serving God looks like!”
___________________________________
Bible verses to consider:
You cannot serve God and mammon. Luke 16:13; Matthew 6:24.
And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15.
And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Luke 9:23.
Prayer: Thank you, Father, for giving me the opportunity to serve you. I confess that too often I do not choose to serve you because I choose to serve myself as well as choosing to serve other things apart from you. Please forgive me for those choices, and please help me in following every step of your lead in choosing only to serve you with all of my being, each day that you have for me. Thank you I can and do bring these prayers before you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Think on this: The first step in choosing to serve God is to accept His free and gracious provision of life eternally with Him when our time here is completed. Have you done that? If no, why? If you do have the assurance of salvation, how are you doing in choosing to serve God on this side of eternity? As well as you like? As well as God wants? If you sense changes are needed in who and what you choose to serve, how are those changes going to happen? Is that what you want? Why or why not?
Waiting for the Train 