Choose whom you will serve? Joshua 21-24

Leaders love to challenge their followers.   Leaders love to see others rise to higher bar of excellence.   So, when we read Joshua's words in 24:15 we might simply pass over it as a "leaders courageous words" for inspirational purposes.  In 24:15 we read Joshua saying, "It is is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."  In God's Word, however, this is more than a leaders euphoric gesture of good will for his followers.  Joshua remembers the fellow Israelites who fell in the wilderness because they failed to "commit" to follow God.   God demands our worship.   He demands that we commit to Him.   So, this is Joshua charging them Biblical to follow God.   We all must respond to this charge not as blind clones of a productive leader but as servants of the Most High God.  Remember, when spiritual leaders charge you to stand for God they are not simply charismatic speakers beseeching a response.  They are surrogates for God giving you His ultimate challenge and charge.   We don't respond to the "Joshuas" in life, we respond or don't respond to the God of our salvation.   We have a Biblical responsibility to serve Him.  It matters not who is asking us.