Choose You This Monday

How's this for a Monday morning challenge?

But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, 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

Starting a new week, starting my next year of existence, opening myself up for self-inspection and finding where I fall short of the goal, I was already thinking of this kind of thing before receiving Dylan's lyrics in my email this morning. I want to be faithful to the call, faithful to follow hard after Christ - and to do that, I'm gonna have to serve somebody. Even more than the lyrical dichotomy of serving the devil or serving the Lord, I need to serve somebody, because it's in serving others that we show ourselves faithful. It's in serving others that Jesus gets to know us (Matt 25:41-46), and that we begin to know Him and the sufferings and joy of His calling.

Serve Somebody - Bob Dylan

You may be a state trooper, you might be a young Turk,
You may be the head of some big TV network,
You may be rich or poor, you may be blind or lame,
You may be living in another country under another name

You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride,
You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side,
You may be in a barbershop,
you may know how to cut hair,
You may be somebody's mistress,
may be somebody's heir

Might like to wear cotton... might like to wear silk,
Might like to drink whiskey, might like to drink milk,
You might like to eat caviar, you might like to eat bread,
You may be sleeping on the floor, or in a king-sized bed

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody.
It may be the devil, or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

[from Daily Dig email, 07/11/2005]