How many gods do I serve? Joshua calls upon the people of Israel to cast out all of the false gods of their ancestors and serve the one true God. They agree and bear witness to one another.
I, myself, can honestly say that I serve other gods. I know there is only one God, but every day my mind is consumed by thoughts of money and my own success. I do not sing songs of praise to these gods or publicly worship them which makes them all the more dangerous. These are things I worship and covet in private. Telling myself that its ok, as long as I also worship The God on Sunday, read my Bible, pray...
To some extent I know God understands this, God just wishes we did not go to such extremes. Its a lot easier for the Israelites now to "incline [their] hearts to the Lord" (v. 23) because at the end of the day the go back "to their inheritances" (v. 28) which God delivered to them on a silver platter. False idols come to be when times are tough, when one is in the wilderness, so to speak. I do find that times are tough right now, its silly, obviously, considering how much more fortunate I am than 99% of the world. Still, I don't come home to my inheritance, I come home thinking that I should be doing more and making life even better for the beatiful family that I have. So that they have an inheritance!
(And don't tell me my inheritance is in heaven, that doesn't pay the bills :).
God, I pray, help me to see clearly at times when I am most "preoccupied" that you are the one true God. That my inheritance is your Son, Jesus, whose sacrifice has set me free to do more with less. Amen.
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