Joshua 24:14

Joshua was the leader of the Israelite people after Moses — the man who led them across the Jordan River and into the land God had promised them after generations of waiting and wilderness wandering. Near the very end of his life, Joshua gathered all the Israelite people at a place called Shechem for a final address, one of the most significant speeches in the entire Old Testament. 'Beyond the River' refers to the Euphrates River and the region of Mesopotamia — modern-day Iraq and Syria — where Abraham's ancestors had lived and worshipped multiple gods before God called Abraham to follow him alone. 'In Egypt' refers to the four-hundred-plus years the Israelites spent as slaves surrounded by Egyptian religion and its many deities. Joshua's demand is sharp: stop carrying the old gods alongside your new allegiance, throw them away completely, and serve the Lord with total faithfulness.

Lord, you know the things I carry alongside you — the gods I've kept without fully naming them. Give me the courage to throw them away, not just to rearrange them neatly. I want to serve you with all of my faithfulness, not just the fraction that costs me nothing. Amen.

Notice what Joshua does not do. He doesn't ease into it. He doesn't suggest the people try to love God a little more this year, or consider reducing their other commitments. He says throw them away — the gods your ancestors worshipped, the habits you inherited without choosing, the religious hedges you've kept around just in case. He is speaking to people who technically belonged to God but had spent their entire lives absorbing competing loyalties. They weren't worshipping other gods instead of God. They were worshipping other gods alongside him. That is a subtler problem — and a far more familiar one. The hard thing this verse asks isn't 'do you believe in God?' You probably do, or you wouldn't be reading this. The harder question is: what are you holding alongside him? Not instead — that would be too easy to spot. Alongside. The habit that numbs the feeling God might be asking you to actually sit with. The backup plan you won't release because trusting God alone feels too exposed. The image of yourself you've quietly made non-negotiable. Joshua doesn't offer to work with your divided heart as it is. He says fear the Lord — with the kind of awe that reorganizes everything — and serve with all faithfulness. All. What would you have to throw away to mean it?