Josh. 24:14-25, Blessed Family of Faith (Family that Serves Only God)

Josh. 24:14-25, Blessed Family of Faith (Family that Serves Only God)

There is a bishop called Polycarp, the last disciple of the apostle John. At that time, the worship of the Roman emperor was being forced, but he served only God. When he saw the hungry Roman soldiers who had come to arrest him, he instead fed them a meal. He also prayed for his friends who were deeply saddened by his death to maintain their love for God until the end. The Roman governor knew that Polycarp was a faithful man and a respected church leader. He wanted to save him, so he tried to persuade him and wanted him to apostatize. The governor told the crowd that he would save him if he offered a sacrifice to Caesar, the Roman emperor, and cursed Jesus just once. At that time, Polycarp answered, “I have loved and served the Lord for 86 years, and he has never answered me wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King and my Savior? I cannot. I am a Christian.” After saying this, Polycarp, who loved God so much, kept his faith with all his life and stood in the glory of martyrdom.
Yes. God is not a part of us, but all of us. He is the Creator who made us. He is the Provider who has given us everything until today. He is the One who gave us life and provided us with a home, children, health, food, clothing, and shelter. He is the One who controls our breathing every day. He is the One who will lead us to the eternal kingdom of God, heaven. He is the One who will allow us to enjoy eternal life and happiness in heaven. God is the only one who takes responsibility for and guides us from the beginning to the end, from our past to our present to our future. Therefore, Joshua decided to leave only this God as an inheritance to his children.

Dear saints, what do we hold on to most in life? Even if we have not lived that way until now, let us hold on to only God from now on. Jesus is our whole life. Our everything is in Jesus. I bless you to hold on to only Jesus and live.
The same goes for our beloved children. It is also important to leave our property to our children. That property is not eternal. It exists and then disappears. It can burn down in an instant. It can be lost in a hurricane/tornado or earthquake. What about those who do not have property? Shouldn’t we leave God, the owner of all property, and Jesus, the eternal one who takes responsibility for everything, to them?
1. Love God completely. Like Caleb, let’s live with a different heart (spirit, spirit), that is, with the spirit of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, with all our heart (all our mind), with all our character (with all our strength), with all our soul (with all our life) and with all our being (with all our life) and love God completely. Verse 14, “Now fear the Lord and serve him with sincerity and truth.”
Numbers 14:24, “But because my servant Caleb had a different spirit and followed me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land where he went, and his descendants will inherit it.”

2. Serve only the Lord God. Verse 15, “If serving the Lord seems evil to you, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve: the gods your fathers served on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” 21,24, But the people said to Joshua, "No! We will serve the LORD." ... 24.And the people said to Joshua, "21, We will serve the LORD our God and obey him.".
Life is a choice. Life is a choice between B and D. B is birth, and D is death. Between B, birth, birth and D, death, death, C is choice. We who were born into this world must live a blessed life by choosing to serve only God and Jesus until we die. There are numerous challenges and pains in life. God tells us all to abandon our lukewarm faith and to choose God and Jesus as our Lord and live with our whole family right here and now.

3. Live with the spirit of the New Covenant every day. v.25, “On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he drew up for them decrees and laws.”

Jesus justified us with the blood of the cross. My righteousness is nothing. Our righteousness is like a dirty rag. But our Jesus shed His blood and died on the cross to make us righteous. Let us be thankful for this grace of Jesus and live in the spirit of the new covenant made with blood and flesh.