Making choices is a part of life, we make choices everyday. Some of the choices that we make are really not that big of a deal, things like: what color socks should I wear today? What should we do for dinner? Or, Do I want to buy Crest or Colgate?Other choices that we make are of a more important nature: where do I want to go to college? Who should I marry? Or, Is this really the home that we want to buy?
And as parents, we have the responsibility of raising our children in such a way that some day when they are on their own they will be able to make the right choices. So throughout life we give them opportunities to develop decision making skills. We let them pick out their favorite candy bar (which I am sure that all of us can remember was and still is, a very difficult task), we let them choose what they are going to wear to school (within reason) and we allow them other freedoms and other choices as they get older.
We spend many years with our children teaching them about life, about God, about what is right and what is wrong, and someday they will be on their own and will have to make their own choices. And we just hope and pray they make the right decisions.
Joshua I am sure in many ways felt like this about his people, the Israelites. Joshua had been with these people his entire life. He had been leader of Israel for over 20 years. Now the time had come when Joshua would send these people, the people with whom he had worked, dreamed, cried, laughed, fought and worshipped God. It was time for the Israelites to leave the nest (so to speak), to make their own choices, and to decide their own destiny.
In Joshua 23 and 24, Joshua shares with his people some final words of exhortation. Joshua is at the end of a long, full life. His greatest concern before he dies is not himself, but his people and their relationship with the Lord. In chapter 23 he called the leaders of the nation together and told them that he was "about to go the way of all the earth." But first he challenged them to love the Lord and to keep the commandments that God had given them in love. He warned the leaders of the frightening danger that the nation would be in if they led their people in deserting the Lord.
And he called them to make a decision, “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." (Joshua 24:15).
Will we pass on an example of faithfulness to the next generation?
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This is definitely the greatest choice that any parent has to make. Especially the father. I had a post the other day that created a lot of discussion about manhood. It is a passionate subject.
ReplyDeleteOne of the greatest needs we have is for our men to lead their families in service to the Lord.
Larry, As I have gotten older I have encountered the really the tough part: watching my adult children make poor decisions. Of course not all their decisions are poor. And they might not agree with me that they are making the wrong choices. But they are certainly not always the choices I would make for them if I was still in charge. And they are not necessarily always following either my example or my teaching.
ReplyDeleteThere comes a point as parents when we have done all we can do to lead and exemplify the life of Christ. And they make their own choice. It's at times like this that God reminds me that He feels the same way about His children sometimes. So I know I cannot just blame my bad parenting in self pity. I just have to leave them in God's capable hands. He loves them even more than me.
--Richard
Dang it! Ya'll always say what I wanted to say.
ReplyDeleteI love that verse and I think you could contemplate the deep meaning of the first three words for years.
"choose for yourselves"
Kevin, It is so true that each generation, each person must "choose for themselves". I know the choice I have made. Like Joshua, for me and my house we will serve the Lord. As long as God has me as leader, head of my house, I will lead them as best I can to serve the Lord. But I cannot make that choice for the next generation. They must eventually choose themselves. Christianity is not inherited. Someone has said, "God has no grandchildren, only children." --Richard
ReplyDeleteSometimes I wish I didn't have to choose for myself but that someone could make that choice for me. But since I have to "choose for myself" I choose to serve the Lord.
ReplyDeleteOne of the great things about the character and purpose of God is that He makes us responsible for our choices. I believe as the Bible teaches that God is sovereign and that He does elect (or choose) us to be conformed to the image of His Son. But that in no way negates the responsibility that God gives to us for our own choices. "What a mighty God we serve!" --Richard
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