Choose This Day

Here is a modern day parable for you:

A man wanted to get to a particular island just outside the harbor, but didn’t seem to be in any particular hurry. He went to the dock and found a boat mooring to it ready to leave. He stood with one foot in the boat and the other on the dock. And there he stood, with one foot in the boat and the other on the dock. As the boat pulled away, he still hadn’t made up his mind. Making no decision, he didn’t get to the island—he just got very, very wet.

We’ve all had the experience of being caught between two choices. Most of our choices are innocuous. Will we purchase the inferior product on sale or the more expensive, better quality one? Will we leave for work 20 minutes early or 10? However, there is a decision that every person needs to make. Like the man who straddled the boat and dock, we need to decide whether to enter the “boat.”

Entering the “boat” is the most important decision anyone can make. Leaving behind family, friends, and associates can be difficult. Moreover, moving forward can also be challenging as one faces new challenges. He may know the destination but the course of travel maybe difficult.

Of course, the man who doesn’t make a decision is one who is afraid to make any at all. In some respects, he has already made a decision. He has decided to do nothing. If this is his course of action, then he must accept the consequences. Getting wet is only one consequence; not getting to the final destination and reaping any rewards is another.

Joshua warned the Israelites to “choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell." (Joshua 24:15)

Centuries later Elijah sounded the same warning to the Israelites in 1 Kings 18:21, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal is god, follow him.”

So, what about you? What choices are you making? If we aren’t decisive about our choice, chances are we won’t make one. “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24 Kevin