Three challenges

At the very end of his time as leader of Israel, Joshua challenges the people:

“So fear the LORD and serve Him wholeheartedly.
Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped.” (Joshua 24:14a, NLT)

As I read this passage, there are three obvious commands that jump out at me:

Over and over again, God commands us to FEAR Him! It is essential. I must come to a place of fearing Him... to such a degree, that I don’t care about the opinions of others in comparison.
In addition to fearing Him, God wants us to serve him “wholeheartedly.” When I see this word, I think of a word that I learned about in pre-algebra, the word “integer.” A whole number. I am not to serve God with a fraction or a part of who I am, but with ALL of me.
Finally, I am to put away the idols in my life. An idol is obviously anything or any person that I have put in the place of God. I must be relentless about identifying and rooting out any idols that creep into the seat that only God should sit in.

My Journey