“. . . choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve . . .” – Joshua 24:15
Even in his old age our son Marc’s family dog Porter, a ninety-pound Lab-mix, remains the hilariously funny gentle-giant he’s always been, though still full of mischief every chance he gets. My favorite mischief story about Porter occurred several years ago when he was left alone in the house and noticed the pantry door slightly ajar enabling him to open it with his nose. You can imagine the feast that lay before him on those pantry shelves, except Porter decided to have some fun before digging into the groceries. Up high was a brand new bag of flour which he reached up and grabbed in his giant jaws, carrying it into the family room where he tore it open and slung flour all over the entire room. Well, you can just imagine the reaction when the family returned home!
“Bad dog!” screamed Mom and Dad over and over as they stood there stunned by such an incredible mess, as Porter cowered in the corner, tail tucked between his legs. Enter our granddaughter Olive, maybe four or five at the time, tugging on her mother’s skirt. “But Mommy,” she insisted, “Porter’s not really a bad dog, he just makes bad choices.”
Olive may not realize it, but she is a true philosopher, for what is dog-nature in Porter’s case is often human-nature for many of us; that is, we may be good people at heart, but sometimes we make bad choices. I recall back in fifth grade there was this neighbor kid a few years older than me who lived across the alley from us with whom I started hanging out some. He taught me all kinds of bad things, like cuss words and what they meant, to name just a few. Fortunately, my parents were paying attention and got me redirected before anything bad happened – from the bad choice of company I was keeping.
Through the granting of free will God left us with the responsibility of making choices, and like Porter being left alone in the house with the pantry door ajar, sometimes we find ourselves overcome by temptation and make bad choices. Except, unlike animals, we were also given the gift of reasoning to help us weigh the consequences of those choices in order to determine the potential outcomes. As God’s chosen the Israelites, like us, were not bad people, but often made bad choices. Thus their leader Joshua issued a challenge, “choose this day whom you will serve.” Think! Look at the history of your ancestors. What were the consequences? The same choices that apply to us today.