April 27

Choose Whom You Will Serve

            “Now therefore revere the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.  Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River 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 24:14-15

            At the very heart of IDD social services is the idea of choice.  Personal power is anchored in the ability to live according to your choices.  Did our center’s clients want to live by themselves or with a roommate or in a group home?  Did the want to have a job or get a diploma?  Did the want to participate in Special Olympics or play an instrument?  The goal of our social service center was to give our clients as much freedom to make those choices and live them out as they could.

            Every choice carries costs and benefits associated with it and we would help the clients work through what resources they needed in order to overcome the costs and enjoy the benefits.  The costs of living by yourself are that you have no one to cook for you or clean for you or make sure that you took your medications and it can get pretty lonely.  The benefits are that you don’t have to share your space with anyone else, there is freedom to do what you want when you want to do it and you have greater privacy.  At our center we would help our clients come up with strategies to deal with the challenges.  Maybe an aide would visit in the morning to make sure that medicines were taken and chores were done.  Maybe we would set up some social activities through the week so that they would not be lonely.  Maybe we would teach some shopping and cooking lessons so that we knew that they were eating well.  We would come up with a plan with their team in order to help give them the resources to live with the same access to choice as their typical peers had.

            Our faith is a choice, probably the biggest choice that we face in this life.  Everyone has a system of beliefs, even if the are not officially stated.  Every system of belief has costs and every one has benefits; the decision that we face is what costs we are willing to pay and what benefits are attractive enough to commit our lives to those beliefs.  The cost of following Jesus is steep.  We surrender our lives, our hearts and our destiny to God and say that we will follow Him wherever He leads, even to suffering and death.  We will love whom He loves.  The riches of this world we will not hold as our own, but instead will act as stewards, giving and receiving as we are called.  Our model of success will be the Man of Sorrows who poured out His life for humanity.  The cost is everything that we are or hope to be.

            The benefit, however, is immense.  Eternal life and glory, free of suffering and tears, with the Creator of all.  Joy and fellowship in this life, to be eclipsed in the life to come.  The promise of reunion with those who have passed before us.  A logical worldview that makes sense of where evil and suffering and tragedy come from.  Hope in this life and freedom and joy in the life to be revealed.

            Joshua stood with the Israelites and told them that this was the time, this was the day to choose.  Who did the believe?  Who would they serve?  We stand in the same place.

            There are other gods making other offers out there.  I have not found any other deals to be anywhere near as good and full of life as Jesus.

             

A moment to reflect:

Why have you chosen to follow Jesus?