A Thought For The Week Of July 10, 2017

"But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15) Usually this verse is spoken of only in the context of the stark choice it presents: choose whether you're going to serve God, or whether you're going to choose any of the pantheon of false gods that our society and world dangle before us. And that's a very valid choice to challenge people to make because - and I'm not even thinking of our various religions - there is indeed a pantheon of what you might call secular gods that we can choose to serve if we want to. But what I found interesting, and what - in my experience - is less talked about with this passage - is the rationale for not choosing God. For people of faith it probably seems inconceivable that a person would not choose to follow God. The choice seems so obvious. And yet it clearly isn't obvious. Many people choose a different god. And Joshua introduced his challenge by stating outright that some might find it "undesirable" to serve God. And so I wondered - what would be undesirable about it? As I reflect on that question it strikes me that if I choose a false god, then in a way I get to create that god in my image, or at least to design that god according to my likes and dislikes. But make no mistake about it, a false god (even one we design) can be a very demanding god and can suck us in. One way hey suck us in is by offering us an illusion of being in control. And we like that. We like the idea that we can be in control of our own lives. We don't want to surrender ourselves to an outside authority - even if that outside authority is God. So we get enticed by the illusion of control and we get sucked into the life and spirit draining service of a false god. It's a little bit like sailors being enticed by the illusion of a mermaid, or desert travellers being given false hope by a mirage of an oasis. It sure looks good, but in the end it destroys. Serving God, on the other hand, seems much more demanding. God overtly expects things from us. There are clear responsibilities involved with serving God. And that can make it "undesirable" to serve God - especially when given the choice of a false god that we get to design and which seems to make no demands upon us while promising us everything we think we want. Make no mistake though: false gods suck the life out of us. Only God truly gives us life that can never be taken away.