Choose “ye today” for your holiday

If you want a joy-filled, blessed holiday season, there is a choice that you might want to make today. 

The rush begins earlier each year. This year, the Halloween candy didn’t even make it to the half-price baskets before the shelves began filling up with green and red merchandise. There is a Thanksgiving shelf somewhere, but it’s probably not front and center. Thanksgiving and Christmas are one season now. 

Last week I wrote about not missing your chance to live gratefully toward God, but this week I want to talk about living joyfully with Jesus. 

A choice every Christian must make 

I first learned the message of Joshua 24:14–15 from a plaque that hung in our kitchen. It said, “Choose ye this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” I grew up with that verse, but I learned the context for those words at some point. 

The battles to take the promised land were over and now it was time for the people of Israel to settle into their home and establish their lives. Joshua made a wonderful speech to the family leaders, ending it with the choice he had made that he encouraged all the other families to make as well.  

Joshua told them to choose today whom they would serve in their new land. They would either choose to serve God each day or they would end up serving something less. As you consider that ancient wisdom, think about how to apply that truth to your own life today. 

Every Christian must choose to serve the Lord, or later they will realize they have come to serve something or someone less. 

The most common mistake

Most Christians want to live right with God. We want to make choices our Lord can honor and bless. Most of us make good choices, but often those “good” choices end up being “lesser” choices than we were called to make. 

I often say, “Satan doesn’t really mind if Christians are good people. He does mind when we choose to be godly.” 

A common mistake we make as Christians is to define good things as godly. How do we know the difference?

When are you making a godly choice? 

There is an obvious answer to that question. When we are faced with a circumstance that Scripture speaks to in a direct way, then obedience is our godly choice. 

  • We should remain faithful to our spouses, both physically and emotionally.
  • We should honor our parents.
  • We should worship the one true God and live with reverence to his holiness.

Each day we have choices to make that aren’t specifically answered in God’s word. 

  • Should I accept that new job and move to a different city?
  • Should I speak to that friend about a sin or just pray for God to lead?
  • Should I spend this money or give it as an offering?
  • Should I end this friendship or just limit the influence?
  • Should I serve on this committee at church or be more available to my family?

How do we know when our daily decisions are a godly choice? There is a clear answer, but it isn’t always easy to discern. If we make our daily decisions out of a sense of serving others, we might miss an opportunity to serve God. 

Christians often make good decisions that serve other people. In fact, I think Satan tempts Christians to do that. If we stay busy serving our friends, our families, our jobs, and even our churches, we can miss the calling to serve God. How do we know if God has called us to a committee, a project, or any other opportunity to serve him? 

The best answer I know is a difficult choice to maintain. It is the message of Galatians 5:25: “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.” If we want to make godly choices, we will probably need to ignore some good ideas along the way. 

What does God want for your holiday season? 

Only God can give you that answer. If we understand that one important choice, the other decisions are more likely to serve God rather than something or someone less. 

I recently taught on my Advent book for this year, The Gift of Immanuel. Isaiah said that the Messiah’s “name” would be Immanuel but later said “his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). The angel would tell Joseph to name his Son “Jesus.” 

Cruden’s Concordance lists 198 names or titles given to Jesus. All of those are an aspect of the one name Immanuel. Immanuel means “God with us.”  

When you became a Christian and received the Holy Spirit of God, Immanuel came to be within you. There are several reasons God wanted to give his Spirit to his children. We can’t live godly lives without his Spirit’s direction.  

What does God want for your holiday season? 

You don’t know until you ask. You won’t know, or know how to obey, unless you “keep in step with the Spirit.” 

Choose “ye today” for your holiday

The joy we all look for from our Christmas holiday is one choice away. Joy is the gift of heaven, given to those who walk with God in obedience to his will and word. Today, and every day of the holiday season, will be changed by the choice to “serve God as you walk in his Spirit.” 

We can ask God for ears to hear his calling. We can ask God for discernment to serve him before anything or anyone else. We can ask God for the ability to hear his voice, his commands, and his encouragement above all the other noisy moments in the month ahead. 

Joy will follow our obedience to his leadership. That is the difference between a holiday filled with good things and a holiday filled with God’s joy. 

“Choose ye today” whom you want to serve. Then, make that same choice for tomorrow. Your holiday season can be good, bad, mediocre, or godly simply because you make that daily choice. 

Let’s all choose right now to serve God this busy Christmas season. I pray your memories of Christmas 2023 will include a list of his joy-filled blessings as a result.

What was Samuel’s secret sauce?

People are often surprised to hear that one of my favorite biblical heroes is Samuel. I talk a LOT about Paul. King David and Solomon are fascinating. And the prophets were . . . well, prophetic! 

But, if there is a sign-up list for people I’d like to have lunch with in heaven, my first sign-up would be Samuel. 

Why? Because I think he led the most consistently faithful and compassionate life in Scripture. 

If we want to aim at a life of consistent faith, we should aim at his example. 

What was Samuel’s secret sauce?

Chapter 3 of 1 Samuel is one of my favorites. In chapter 3, Samuel thinks he hears Eli the priest calling to him three separate times. Eli finally realizes that it is God calling to Samuel. 

Eli tells Samuel to pray, “Speak, Lᴏʀᴅ, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:9 NIV). That verse was life-changing for me because it set me on a path of trying to “listen” for God’s word to me.  

Samuel learned to listen to God’s voice. Samuel learned that God speaks to servants who will listen. That was the first ingredient to Samuel’s secret sauce. God speaks to people who are willing to listen to his word and serve his will. 

The next three ingredients are found in verse 19: 

  • “And Samuel grew” 
  • “and the Lᴏʀᴅ was with him”
  • “and let none of his words fall to the ground.”

Samuel continued to grow in the Lord, not allowing his relationship with his heavenly Father to fade. He didn’t take God’s love for granted; he nourished that love by walking with him. Samuel didn’t let any of God’s words “fall to the ground.” He held them close and lived with God’s word as truth for his life. 

Samuel’s secret sauce was a consistently faithful, obedient walk with God through his word. 

Why is consistent faith a spiritual asset?

People notice and trust a life filled with the knowledge and leadership of God. First Samuel 3:20 tells us, “And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lᴏʀᴅ.” 

When I need prayer or counsel, I tend to seek out people I know who fill their lives with the truth of God’s word. They pray with a closeness to God’s heart and are able to pray as God’s Spirit leads. Those are the answers I need. James 5:16 says, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” 

A righteous person leads a consistent life with God and stays connected to God’s word and will. Their life then becomes a spiritual asset to others. Consistent faith to God and his word will allow the Holy Spirit the opportunity to use your witness in powerful ways. 

The blessing of Samuel’s consistent faith

First Samuel 3:21 says, “And the Lᴏʀᴅ appeared again at Shiloh, for the Lᴏʀᴅ revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lᴏʀᴅ.” Samuel knew God.  

That phrase should not be taken lightly. The prophet Samuel knew the Creator God of the universe. God revealed himself to Samuel.  

When last did God reveal himself to you? 

God still speaks. God still reveals himself to his servants who will listen. God reveals himself in his word. Most of the time he speaks to us through our Bibles. God also speaks to us through the Holy Spirit, who uses circumstances, the words of others, or just quiet moments of meditation to speak to his servants who are listening for his voice. 

The careful caution is this: God will never speak a word to you that contradicts his Scripture. 

He gave us the Bible so that we wouldn’t be deceived by our own thoughts, emotions, or the influence of others. Never underestimate Satan’s desire to mimic or twist God’s word to a place of partial truth. It is how he tempted Christ, and it is how he tempts Christians today. 

A consistent faith is lived through God’s unchanging words of truth. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8).  

Samuel knew God because his heart was pure. Samuel’s blessing can be ours for the same reason. 

Do you see God and hear his voice consistently?

My husband, Jim, and I have been sheltered indoors for several days now. We both had COVID at the same time. It seems strange to say, but God will often use times like these if we will just give him the chance. 

God speaks. God directs our paths. God strengthens and encourages our lives. God blesses what he has always blessed. God uses servants who will listen. 

God even uses or chooses a time of forced quiet if we will let him. It’s good to receive a spiritual tune-up on occasion. 

So, may I ask again, “When last did God reveal himself to you?” 

Do you need Samuel’s secret sauce?

Before the rush of the holiday season, let’s take some time to quietly pray Samuel’s prayer. Draw close to God and say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”  

Fill your life with God’s word, God’s voice, and God’s Spirit. The blessing of a purified heart is the ability to “see God” through his word and the light it brings to the world.  

Samuel’s secret sauce was served to me on a platter of COVID. I will wish a different entrée for all of you! But, honestly, I enjoyed the quiet days to just be still and “listen” for God’s voice and God’s guidance.  

God does speak

We just need to be willing servants who listen to his word. 

Samuel led a life of consistent faith. We all need a little, or a lot, of his secret sauce.  

Please, Lord, help us follow Samuel’s consistent, compassionate example of faith. 

“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

A reminder: If you want to order copies of this year’s Advent devotional The Songs Tell the Story, please let us know. You can use this link. We hope that the words will bless your Christmas season with a consistent daily focus on the high, holy gift of our infant King.