CHOOSING, AND CHOOSING RIGHT.
THERE is no such thing as an independent man, altho men are prone to boast of their independence. The injunction of the Scripture, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve” (Joshua 24:15), is a direct reminder that every one is a servant of some one, whether he be willing to acknowledge it or not. Not only so, but it implies that every one must serve one of two particular masters—either God or the adversary of God. The chief adversary of God is Satan, and his service has a great variety of deceptive phases. There is variety, and apparently conflicting variety, in the schemes devised by the adversary for alluring men away from the service of God. In following these devices many people are led to believe that they are serving God. Some are deluded with the idea that they are simply serving their own best interests, ignoring both God and Satan, believing in neither. But self-serving is a very effective service of Satan—one very acceptable to him, because it ignores dependence upon God, and therefore does not recognize obligation to Him. There is no getting away from the fact that every thought, word, and deed is a service of either God or Satan. God has set up His standard in very plain terms. He does not aim to deceive men. He gives His Word, and gives His Spirit to make it plain. His will is briefly comprehended in His law of Ten Commandments, which embraces every principle in life; and the ability to walk in the light of this truth comes through faith in Christ. Satan works all manner of cunning devices to turn men away from the law of God, and however, wherever, and whenever he can cause them to deviate from the way God has marked out, he has them engaged in his own evil service. Christ is the way that God has set before us all, and He kept the commandments of God. The service of God is along the line of “the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus;” and whosoever is not in this way is against God. Therefore, knowing that we are not, and can not be, independent, it is important that we choose whom we will serve. It is more important that we choose to serve God, and that we make the choice emphatic by choosing to serve Him in His own way; for this is the way of life, and at His right hand are “pleasures for evermore.” He not only urges us to choose this day whom we will serve, but He is particularly anxious for us to choose the service that will secure for us eternal life. God made all things for His own pleasure (Rev. 4:11), but He has no pleasure in them who choose the way of death. Eze. 18:23; 33:11; Heb. 10:38. “The Lord taketh pleasure in His people; He will beautify the meek with salvation.” Ps. 149:4. The Lord knows what is best for His people, and He knows that no good can come to those who will not choose to be His people. Their fate is plainly set forth in Ps. 37:9, 10, 20, 38; also in Revelation 20. He would “have all men to be saved” (1 Tim. 2:4); therefore He would have all to become members of His family. “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.” Deut. 30:19. “Choose you this day,” and “choose life.”