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Bible Reading Plan

Reading Plan:  Joshua 24:14-28

“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 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.”

Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods! It was the Lord our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. And the Lord drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.”

Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.”

But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the Lord.”

Then Joshua said, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord.”

“Yes, we are witnesses,” they replied.

“Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.”

And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God and obey him.”

On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he reaffirmed for them decrees and laws. And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the Lord.

“See!” he said to all the people. “This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the Lord has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God.”

Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to their own inheritance.

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Daily Devotional: Heavy Words

“Knowing the correct password—saying ‘Master, Master,’ for instance—isn’t going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience—doing what my Father wills. I can see it now—at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, ‘Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our super-spiritual projects had everyone talking.’ And do you know what I am going to say? ‘You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don’t impress me one bit. You’re out of here.’ 

Matthew 7:21-23 (The Message)

When I read this passage from Matthew, I didn’t just read the words, I felt them, heavy in my chest. 

I have the incredible privilege of serving on staff at my home church. It feels like a gift, a weighty responsibility, and an adventure! I’ve had a front-row seat to the miraculous: watching entire families be baptized together. Seeing our community receive tangible, life-changing help in real-time. Watching the next generation catch fire for their faith.

It is dangerously easy to be so mobilized by the work of God that I neglect the Person of God. The truth of Matthew is that if my commitment to my church home is greater than my personal walk with Jesus, I have every reason to feel the weight of those words.

Whether building a career, a family, or a ministry, the line between who we are and what we do can become blurred. We fall into the trap of thinking what we produce validates who we are. More than how much we can contribute is the posture we’re in when we do the work. Are we working and serving out of an overflow of love and surrender to Jesus, or are we trying to achieve that love by working and serving? 

In all honesty, for me, the answer is often both. I can get caught up in the amazing things I get to be a part of, and work can outpace my personal devotion. When that happens, at best, I’m missing out on the relationship that matters most. At worst, I’m accidentally working against His will that I claim to serve. 

Next Steps

This passage challenged me to take a deeper look at how much of my time is uninterrupted, private devotion to prayer and scripture. I changed my personal routine this week to secure 15 more minutes of time to read the book of John, a great place to start for a reminder and deeper understanding of who Jesus is.