“Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and
in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served … Serve the Lord!”
Joshua 24:14
We are to “fear the Lord.” We are
to “serve Him in sincerity and in truth.” We are to “put away the gods which
your fathers served.” My questions to you today are … “What gods did your
father serve?” and “can you honestly say that you are not serving those gods?”
Many of us don’t have father’s that served Buddha, Baal, or any other false god.
This is good. But they may have had idols in their lives and served those idols,
making them a god. My father had (and still has) the television on the whole
time that he is awake. The television is so important to him. It is his
lifeline. Because of this, my youngest brother has grown up and he has a
television by the sink for when he does the dishes as well as for when he and
his girls sit down to eat their meals, two televisions in his living room (one
for him to watch his shows and one for his kids to watch their shows on the
other side of the room), a television in each of their bedrooms, and a television
to watch where he works out every night. When I got married I must admit that I
took after my father. I had the television on all the time. When I woke up, the
first thing I did was walk over to the television and turn it on. I was a
Christian, I loved the Lord, but the television had a hold on me. The Holy
Spirit had to reveal to me that the television was an idol in my life. Once I
knew this, I knew that I had to be free. I had to cut myself off from it. “Put
it away” so to speak. So I stopped my monthly cable subscription. The only
things our family watched was our VHS videos of Veggie Tales and the Donut Man.
After some time away from the television, I knew that the television was no
longer an idol. I was free. The Lord told me that it was okay for me to
subscribe to cable once again. I called the cable company and set up a time for
them to come hook us up. We were only going to get the “basic” subscription
package with the “basic” channels, channels 1 – 13. This way we would be able
to have the news and know what is going on around the world. When the cable
company came, the man told us that he didn’t have the part to make it just the “basic”
channels. He told us that he would give us the “extended” package at the “basic”
price. This was surely a blessing from the Lord. Instead paying and getting
thirteen channels, we were paying for thirteen channels but receiving over
eighty. We pay only twenty some dollars a month for our “extended” cable
package. My parents pay over sixty dollars a month for the same package that we
get. God honored my willingness to get rid of an idol by rewarding me with more
than we asked for when it was no longer an idol in my life. Now I hardly ever
watch the television. God is my God and I worship and serve Him.
I don’t know what gods your father
had. Only you can answer that. But I do encourage you to be sure that the Lord
is the only God that you are serving. Fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity
and truth. Put away the gods your father served. Again … “Serve the Lord!”
Father, May we fear You. May we serve You in sincerity and
truth. May we put away the gods which our fathers served. May we worship the
Lord our God (You) and serve Him (You) only. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
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