Verse
But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15 NIV
Thought
Everyone is influenced by others. The challenge that we all have is to think for ourselves and limit the amount of influence that others have on our decisions. Too often we do what others think we ought to do rather than what we know we should do. It can happen to the best of us.
Joshua's last major piece of advice for his people was to avoid being influenced by the people and groups that surrounded them. Just because everyone was doing a particular thing did not make it right. Joshua had decided that it didn't matter to him what anyone else did - he and his household were going to serve the Lord.
We read about people regularly that get caught committing some infraction of the law. Often these people use as their defense that they simply did what others always do. When other people's behavior becomes the standard by which we determine our own behavior, we risk losing everything we have worked to have and accomplish. It is always best to have the highest possible standards and to hold ourselves accountable to those standards. Even when we are the only ones who do it.
Prayer
"God, I will serve you and only you despite what others do. Amen"
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