“Serve the Lord in Sincerity and Truth”

Wedding of Jeremy and Jacqueline

Joshua 24

14 Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord.

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.

Joshua challenged the whole nation. He forced them to make a decision. We must make the right choice remembering that we’ll have to live with the decision that we’ve made. Whatever their choice, Joshua made it clear that he had made his decision already.

Joshua stressed that they must “fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the foreign gods”.

Let us look at the things we have to take into consideration when making our choice:

  • Fear the Lord. The Bible says that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov 1:7). This makes us wise. Such a husband will know how to treat his wife. The fear of the Lord will keep him from sin. And such a wife will know how to treat her husband and teach her children.
  • Serve Him in sincerity and truth. Serve Him from the heart. Caleb knew this secret and could boldly face any foe for he knew that with God on their side no nation will be able to stand before them. It made him courageous.
  • Put away the foreign gods. We must part from anything that is from the old life and brings separation between us and God.

Note that when Joshua told the people that he would serve the Lord regardless of their decision it gave them also courage to choose for God regardless of the consequences.

So too when we choose to serve the Lord it encourages others who are weak to serve Him too.