Day 106: Following the Lord

"But if it does not please you to serve the Lord, choose gods for yourselves today whom you will serve, whether the gods of your fathers that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites, among whom you dwell in their land.  But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, because He is holy."  Joshua 24:15

Nobody is being forced into this life.

If we were all forced into a life of faith, there wouldn't be a concept of faith at all.  It would merely be duty, or slavery.  We are not forced into slavery.  In fact, we are the opposite.  We are free to choose where we want to be, and as Christians, we choose freedom.  We are free to choose the Lord who forgives our sins, who shows us mercy every day, who teaches us how to live with other human beings, who loves us unconditionally.

Sure, the riches and successes of all the other gods out there might seem appealing.  In fact, we are subject to that temptation every day.  We could just wander off to serve money, so that way everybody will know us just for our material worth.  Imagine what kind of life that would be: slavery to the dollar and subjugation to every single pain that we might inflict on ourselves just to get there.  When it comes to the end of our lives of following money, what will we have left?  A comfortable bed?  A fancy suit?  What will we be able to take into the afterlife? Absolutely nothing.  We will leave the world in shambles, and our lives would be a reflection of that world.

Instead, we choose to follow Jesus, who is leading us to eternal life.  We are receiving grace every day so that we can make it to the next day.  We are building up communities all around us, making sure that others can have the same joy we feel on our journey, for we are not selfish.  Jesus has taught us to follow so that we can make the world a better place: a perfect dwelling to present before God.

Let's remember why we are following when the temptations arise, for that's when we will remind ourselves that we will serve the Lord, for the Lord is holy.