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The
highest courage is to dare to be yourself in the face of adversity,
choosing right over wrong, ethics over convenience, and truth over
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Travel the path of integrity without looking back, for THERE IS
NEVER A WRONG TIME TO DO THE RIGHT THING.
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Bishop Soc Villegas
25 July 2007
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<< Go
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ON SERVANT
LEADERSHIP
(Part 23)
August 13, 2011
Today’s reading: Joshua 24:14-29
Joshua, the successor of Moses, had led God’s people into the
promised land and subdued it. Now he was on the verge of death,
and he gave the people his final exhortation.
It is striking that in today’s passage, the phrase “serve the
Lord” is said seven times. Joshua’s whole discourse is
basically about serving the Lord. He starts by averring, “As for
me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Jos 24:15b). When
the people said that they too would serve the Lord, Joshua
challenged them, saying it was hard and they might not be able to
do so (Jos 24:19). The people insisted that they would serve the
Lord.
Joshua had already made clear what God expected of His people. And
as the leader, he had shown the way by strongly stating his own
posture of serving the Lord. Now he wanted to impress the point on
the people. Now he wanted to be sure that the people were truly
decided on what they had to do. So in response to Joshua’s
inputs, the people said they would serve the Lord three times (Jos
24:18,21,24). We are reminded of Jesus asking Peter three times
whether he loved him.
We too are a servant people. We are called to serve the Lord. Why
should we serve the Lord?
First, because of what He has already done for us. The Israelites
acknowledged the mighty works of God in their midst, from their
deliverance from Egypt, through their sojourn in the desert, to
their settling in the promised land (Jos 24:17-18). God has served
us, beyond what we deserve, and we should serve Him if only out of
gratitude.
Second, for our ongoing well-being. In life we will serve someone
or something. We may just serve ourselves, or we may serve
different causes, or we may serve strange gods, or we may serve
God. Since no one can serve two masters, and God “is a jealous
God” (Jos 24:19c), when we choose to serve someone or something
other than God, we will certainly get into trouble. God is a
jealous God because He cares for us and has the best plan for us.
He does not want us to go astray. If we choose to serve others
instead of God, we will experience evil and destruction (Jos
24:20).
Third, serving God brings us into a deeper relationship with Him.
Serving God is a very important tool to growing in the Spirit.
Since we are God’s people, since we are called to holiness
because our God “is a holy God” (Jos 24:19b), we need to turn
our hearts to Him. Serving Him and focusing on Him allows us to
“put away the strange gods that are among you and turn your
hearts to the Lord” (Jos 24:23).
How are we called to serve God?
First, we are to serve in the fear of the Lord (Jos 24:14a). We
are to be in awe of Him. We are to realize who He is, the awesome
Almighty, and who we are, the creatures who owe Him worship. He is
the Master and we are His slaves. We acknowledge Him as Lord.
Knowing what our proper relationship is will naturally lead us to
right service.
Second, we serve God completely (Jos 24:14b). We do not give less
than our all. We are not lukewarm, perhaps serving out of
obligation but without passion and joy. God is everything to us,
and we express this by serving Him with our whole strength.
Third, we serve God sincerely (Jos 24:14c). We are not functional,
doing “just a service.” Our service ought to be an expression
of what we know we are called to be, and how important we know
service to God is. God has made Himself dependent upon His people
to bring His salvation to the ends of the earth. We sincerely
desire to accomplish God’s will.
Fourth, we cast out other gods (Jos 24:14d). We have no other
priorities than God’s work. We have no other agenda than His
will. We have no attachments but Him. We give ourselves totally to
His plan for our lives. We deny ourselves and embrace His cross.
The Israelites responded positively to Joshua. “Far be it from
us to forsake the Lord for the service of other gods.” (Jos
24:16). When Joshua said that by their words they were their own
witnesses that they had chosen to serve the Lord (Jos 24:22a),
they strongly affirmed it. “We are, indeed!” (Jos 24:22b).
Unfortunately, we know that eventually the Israelites served other
gods and turned away from the God of their covenant. The large
memorial stone Joshua set up as witness would eventually fulfill
its purpose. “It shall be a witness against you, should you wish
to deny your God.” (Jos 24:27b).
How about us? God brought us out of our slavery to sin and Satan,
God did great things for us, God intends to use us to be His
servant through whom He will show His glory (Is 49:3).
We have willingly entered into a covenant with God. We have
promised to serve God by living as His follower, by dedicating
ourselves to the task of building a strong family for Christ, by
committing to be an active member of our community, and by being a
witness to the world of God’s love (check out your covenant
card). Then we close our covenant commitment by invoking the Lord
Jesus and our blessed Mother Mary to help us faithfully live out
our covenant. That is serious stuff!
Are we faithfully living out our covenant? Or is our covenant card
going to be the memorial stone that will witness against us?
I pray that we will always be able to say: “We will serve the
Lord, our God, and obey his voice.” (Jos 24:24).
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