There is no denying we are living in evil times in an evil world. God’s people are surrounded, bombarded, influenced, tempted and tried on every hand by Satan and all of his devices. We have never had so many bad things going on around us. Not so!

We so soon forget the sin in the world during the time of Noah and his small family, the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah dealt with by Lot and his kin, and the abominations of Greece and Rome and their worship of pagan “manufactured gods”. There has been much evil in the world for a long time; ever since the serpent beguiled Eve in the garden of Eden and Adam transgressed the Law of God. You would think the children of God would have learned by now to stay away from the evilness of Satan and all of his temptations. Again, Not So!

An evil that God’s little children are having to face today is the misconception about the word “choice”. You would not think that misunderstanding of this word would qualify to be mentioned in the same breath with all of the evilness already stated. The truth is, it is because of how it changes the perception of our allegiance to God by its misinterpretation.

Notice the scripture found in Joshua 24:15, “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” It is a great evil unto the Lord of how this verse is used by most of the religious world of today. The choice here (choosing) is NOT between serving God or the gods! The choice which Joshua alludes to is between the gods of their fathers before the flood or the gods of the Amorites. Today, there is so many different fleshly temptations in which we all are bombarded, that it tempts God’s people with the alluring choices of the short-lived pleasures of sin.

In Joshua 24:15, Joshua is telling the Israelites (by the inspiration of God’s Spirit), where the choice really is. The choice is out there in the world if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD. If you have the love of God in your heart, if you really love Him and are thankful for what He has done for you, if you are truly humbled by what He suffered in your stead; then the desire in your heart is strong to serve Him with every fiber of your existence. If you are not doing this, then you have evidently chosen from among the evils of this world to serve whatever draws your allegiance.

As Children of the King, as recipients of His Loving Mercy and Grace, and as partakers of His Inheritance; we are NOT given a choice whether to serve the LORD or not serve the LORD. We are commanded to serve Him.

Are we to think that God protected and delivered His people from the evils and persecution in Egypt to the land He had promised them just so they would have a choice to serve Him or the gods of the Amorites? They were instructed to drive them out of the land of Canaan (the Amorites) and Israel did not do what God told them.

In Joshua 24:15, Joshua is telling the Israelites (by the inspiration of God’s Spirit), where the choice really is. The choice is out there in the world if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD. If you have the love of God in your heart, if you really love Him and are thankful for what He has done for you, if you are truly humbled by what He suffered in your stead; then the desire in your heart is strong to serve Him with every fiber of your existence. If you are not doing this, then you have evidently chosen from among the evils of this world to serve whatever draws your allegiance.

Now, for those of you who have the love of God entrenched within your soul, and you understand your depravity without Him, then it is time for you to be up and about your master’s business; that of serving Him with all of your God given ability. In Deuteronomy chapter 6 we find Moses instructing the Israelites concerning the commandments of God. In verse 2 he said, “to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life…” This commandment HAS NOT CHANGED into a choice. Then in verse 3 Moses told them to “Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee…” Again, this has not changed. They were to listen intently, observe, and then do the commandments of God. Deuteronomy 6:5 states, “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” God did not give them a choice, He told them exactly what they were to do.

The commandment of Deuteronomy 6:14 has also not changed into a choice - “Ye shall not go after other gods…” Listen to the words of Jesus in John 12:26, “If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.”

Now, if in your heart it seemeth just and right to serve the Lord, then it shall be as thus, “me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” May it be thus in your house!