This is the Moment

The freedom to choose the bondage we live in. Choose the bondage that frees us from bondage.

In Joshua 24:15, The Israelites had just finished conquering all the people in the Promised Land. Joshua had allocated their lands to each tribe.  Now they were ready to embark on a life free of oppression and free of enemies.  Joshua challenged them to make a life defining choice; how would they handle life when the only life they had to handle was their own?

The scripture says he said this to them. “And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether it be the gods whom your fathers served on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.  But as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua was saying to them, this is the moment.  Now you must make a decision that will last until and beyond your death.  Will you decide to live and die like your ancestors who, after God delivered them from the bondage of Egypt, they fell into self-made bondage of the wanting the freedom to do whatever they wanted?

This was the moment for them.  They would either serve the Lord or serve themselves.  They would either follow the Lord or they would follow their own desires.  They would either treat life the way God wanted life to be treated. or they would treat life the way they wanted.

This was the moment for them.  Would the freedom from a bondage lead them to a bondage of the freedom to have all they wanted?  It looked that way. Since they did not have a king at that time, every person wanted to do what they thought was right in their own eyes. Their own thinking and their own feelings were the standards by which they wanted to live.

They did not want to offend anyone or to be offended by anyone because of their beliefs.  They wanted the freedom to live as they pleased.  The freedom to is really bondage to the self.

Sadly, most of the Israelites chose what they wanted.  The removed God from the idea of marriage and did what they wanted.  They removed Him from intimate relationships and behaved the way they wanted.  They removed Him from being their King and decided they were king of their own lives.

Yes, this was their moment; they would either serve the Lord or they would expect the Lord to serve them.  Joshua tried to warn them of the danger in the choice they had to make at that moment.  The idea of freedom from oppression or from being denied individual freedom seems good but it can often lead to bondage to the idea of the freedom to make our own individual choices. The freedom to is not always best for us.

Adam and Eve had such a moment in the garden many years before the Israelites.  It was the idea of freedom from so they could have the freedom to.  They chose wrong.  The Israelites chose wron.

Tuesday, November 5^th is going to be a moment like this for us. Many of us will cast a vote for the next President and leadership of our nation. Will we see this as a moment where we choose the freedom to live the way we want or the freedom from living just for ourselves?

Just like it was with Adam and Eve and just like it was with the Israelites, the devil will always offer us the choice to be free to do whatever we want for ourselves.  But remember, nothing he offers you is good for you, even the idea of the freedom to choose your own way.

When you vote next week, and you should vote, be mindful of what you are really doing.  One of our parties offers us a choice for the freedom to live the way we want to live.  The freedom to make our own decisions; the freedom to have what we want to have; the freedom never to be offended by anything or anyone.  I could go on, but you should see.  For those of us who believe this way, this is the moment for us.

The other party offers us a choice for the freedom from ourselves. It offers us a moment to choose to have the freedom from living like we know good from evil; to have the freedom from living like we know as much as God knows; to have the freedom from redefining life to suit the way we want life to be for us.  For those of us who believe this way, this is the moment for us.

November 5^th will be our moment.  We will choose whom we will serve – those who say they will give us everything we want; or we will choose to serve those who will help us to live fully free within the bounds of how God has designed life to be for everyone.

Yes, our parties are offering us either a freedom to do as we want or a freedom from having all that we want. This is our moment.  Let’s not blow it.  The prosperity of your children and your children’s children and many generations that come after you will depend a great deal on the choice you make next week.

It’s not a good idea to think that over 350 million people can live happily together with everyone free to live as they want.  There must be a standard for life against which we all must stand before.  It is not my position over your position.  It is my position against the same standard as your position.  Look for the party that understands and represents more of the standard against which we should live.

Joshua made sure the Israelites understood that standard was God.  They would either live for or against Him.

I believe many of us should do something next week that we have never done.  We should stop voting for those who offer us the freedom to and cast our vote for those who help us to plainly see that what is best for everyone is to be free from wanting the freedom to have everything we want.

Don’t vote for anyone who promises to give you what they cannot give. You already have that.  Though some of us may not accept this, good is only good if it is good for everyone – not just you.  If it is possible to make things good and better for you it is probably true that what is good for you is not always good for someone else. If you always get your way in life, you will never grow to be better than who you are today.

God wants to give you the good that you do not have.  Only God can free you from your bondage to want the freedom to do all that you want; He can strengthen you desires to be free from the bondage of yourself.  And only He can develop your heart to be fully satisfied in the bondage you enjoy by the freedom you have in Him. 

This is our moment.  The freedom to do as we please is a slippery slope; the freedom from ourselves is solid ground; but freedom in Him is the best.  Cast your vote for the freedom we find in Him.

Live a Delivered Life. Love you.