FOR TUESDAY AUGUST 19 : OUR DAILY BREAD

[cimi]

August 19
Tuesday


ONE SMALL
CHOICE

READ:
Joshua 24:15-24
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Choose for yourselves
this day whom you will
serve.... But as for
me and my house, we
will serve the LORD.
__Joshua 24:15
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As a boy, my father often played violin in the local symphony. This budding young talent continued improving into his high school years.

Then one day he decided to join his buddies in a harmless prank. As they raced through the school hallways and out the door, my dad hurried to follow them. The door slammed just as he reached it. His left hand smashed the glass of the door__severing the tendons to three fingers. All the doctors could do was tie the tendons in knots, rendering his fingers useless and taking the violin out of his life forever.

I wonder how Dad's life might have been different had he not made that one small choice. "What-ifs" have dubious merit__we can always second-guess ourselves. But we cannot underestimate the impact of our choices. One choice can produce lifelong consequences, for good or bad.

Joshua's counsel is a good place to start. "Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve," he told Israel. "But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD" (Josh. 24:15).

Serving God will not always be the easy choice. But it is a choice that brings the kind of consequence we can live with. Bill Crowder
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``````````````````I am resolved to follow the Savior,``````````````
`````````````````````Faithful and true each day;``````````````````
````````````````Heed what He sayeth, do what He willeth__`````````
`````````````````He is the living way. __Hartsough````````````````
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What you will be tomorrow
depends on the choices you make today.

*************Today's Bible Reading __ Joshua 24:15-24*************

15 "If it seems evil to you
to serve the LORD, choose
for yourselves this day
whom you will serve,
whether the gods which
your fathers served that
were 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."

16 So the people answered
and said: "Far be it from us
that we should forsake the
LORD to serve other gods;

17 for the LORD our God is
He who brought us and our
fathers up out of the land of
Egypt, from the house of
bondage, who did those
great signs in our sight, and
preserved us in all the way
that we went and among all
the people through whom
we passed. 18 And the LORD
drove out from before us all
the people, including the
Amorites who dwelt in the
land. We also will serve the
LORD, for He is our God."

19 But Joshua said to the
people, "You cannot serve
the LORD, for He is a holy
God. He is a jealous God;
He will not forgive your
transgressions nor your
sins. 20 If you forsake the
LORD and serve foreign
gods, then He will turn and
do you harm and consume
you, after He has done you
good."

21 And the people said to
Joshua, "No, but we will
serve the LORD!"

22 So Joshua said to the
people, "You are witnesses
against yourselves that you
have chosen the LORD for
yourselves, to serve Him."

And they said, "We are
witnesses!"

23 "Now therefore," he
said, "put away the foreign
gods which are among you,
and incline your heart to the
LORD God of Israel."

24 And the people said to
Joshua, "The LORD our God
we will serve, and His voice
we will obey!"