Reaffirming the Covenant (Joshua 24:144-24) (December 30, 2025)

Reaffirming the Covenant (Joshua 24:144-24) Living Life 12/30/2025 Daily Devotional Bible Study

Reaffirming the Covenant (Joshua 24144-24) Living Life 12302025 Daily Devotional Bible Study

Repetition and the Formation of Character

Welcome to living life friends there is power and repetition the things that we repeat over and over again the things that we say I'm forms are character.
Repetition is character formation many of the times.
And so I want to share with you that I repeated to my wife three times in a very public way that I would be her husband and that I would commit to loving her and being faithful to her and to leading her to serve God together.
I did this first when I

I got some of our friends together and at like an engagement dinner I publicly said I want to be your husband I want to love you I will be there for you and I will take care of you always.
And then I had the wedding ceremony first we had a ceremony in Korea and so in Korea mostly in front of her family and her friends we had some friends in common in Korea but but more her friends

I was able to state my vowels there and then we had another ceremony in America and again I got up in the context of worship and said I will love you I will be your husband.
And God had me in these three ways repeat things that would help form my character.

Why God Asks Us to Repeat Our Commitment

And I wonder are there things that God is asking you to say over and over again?
Sometimes over the course of a prey set you might say Why are the lyrics so repetitive?

Um why do the songs kind of say the same things this song to that song Ah why do we have to say I love you to God over and over again?
And it's because repetition is formation.
Ah what we see in today's passage is that there again is a lot of repetition.
God has the people repeat something and they repeat it three times.
As you think about what they say

May you wonder how does repeating this help form their character?
What kind of people do they become when they say these things over and over again?
And may you think about what you're choosing to say to God and may you repeat the right things to him again and again?

Scripture Reading: Joshua 24:14–24

Joshua Chapter 24 verses fourteen to twenty four.

Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness.
Throw away the gods Your ancestors worshipped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt and serve the Lord.
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.
Then the people answered

Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods.
It was the Lord our god himself who brought us and our parents up out of Iegiat from that land of slavery and performed those great signs before our eyes.
He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled and the Lord drove out before us All the nations including the Amorites who lived in the land we too will serve the Lord because he is our god.
Joshua said to the people

you are not able to serve the Lord He is a holy god He is a jealous god He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins.
If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you after he has been good to you.
But the people said to Joshua No we will serve the Lord.
Then Joshua said You are witnesses against yourselves that you havever chosen to serve the Lord Yes we are witnesses they replied.
Now then said Joshua

Throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord the God of Israel.
And the people said to Joshua We will serve the Lord our God and obey him.

Joshua’s Challenge to the People

Today's passage is a continuation of Joshua's speech to all of the Israelites.
So these things apply to everyone.
He says you guys need to throw away the gods of your ancestors the ones that were worshipped beyond the Euphrates River and also the ones that were worshipped in Egypt and instead serve the Lord.
And he says as for me and my household we will serve the Lord.
And then the challenge is given to the people

What are you gonna do? Are you gonna serve the gods that your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates?
Are you gonna serve the newer gods that you were introduced to in Egypt?
Are you going to serve the gods of your neighbors here in the promise land or are you gonna serve God and him alone?

Repeating the Covenant and Counting the Cost

The people after hearing Joshua's long speech they repeat this.
They say we too will serve the Lord because he is our God

listing all of the benefits God did for them they're saying we are grateful for who God is we know what benefits he's given to us of course we're gonna love and serve him.
It would be silly to love and serve some other God when God is the one when Yawei is the one that has done so much for us.
And so with that logic they say first in verse Eighteen We too will serve the Lord because he is our God because he has done so many good things for us.
And then Joshua challenges them

He is Are you sure? Because if you commit to God if you get into like an exclusive relationship with God if you declare that you're gonna love God And then verse 20 if you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods after making a commitment to him he's going to be even more mad at you than he was to these other people.
He will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you after he has been good to you.

And so they're saying Are you sure you want to commit to God?
Because if you make this commitment the punishment the punishment on you will be even greater than on these people that you just conquered.
And the people said to Joshua Verse 21 No we will serve the Lord.
Joshua asks again Are you sure you are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord?
And they repeat again Yes we are witnesses they replied.

Throwing Away Idols and Yielding the Heart

And so

first they say cheerfully Oh because God is so good to us we get so many benefits he protects us he provides for us we're going to serve him.
And Joshua challenges them and says You have to remember that if you break your promise you're gonna be punished.
Are you sure you want to get into this a deep loving covenantal relationship with God?
And they say yes yes we do and they repeat it just kind of saying yes we are witnesses to each other that we said this.
And then in verse 23 Joshu says

Then throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.
If you are so committed if you've repeated this once and now twice before you do this a third time resolve to have no other gods before you get rid of all of your idols and turn your back on every other belief system.

Personal Reflection on Modern Idols

And this is my challenge to you.
Are you able to make that commitment to God

not just because God has forgiven your sins or created a beautiful world for you to live in or answered your prayers in certain ways beyond that gratitude Are you willing to choose God and to have this commitment to have a pure love for him Are you going to get rid of your idols?
What idols you might ask for me the way I interpret the idols of the ancestors beyond the Euphrates I'm the people that I kind of like.
Consider my ancestors are the Koreans who were Buddhists in centuries ago.

And there is a way of life that Buddhism represents of lowering your expectations and seeking things in motivation and displaying it safe and not getting too excited and just controlling your desire.
I'm and to not expecting too much so that you don't get disappointed a lot.
That way of life is a very tempting way of life to me because I don't like risk.
And what God is challenging me in particular is Sam instead of seeking the safe life where you trying not to be disappointed

will you live a life in which you present your desires before God and will you live a life in which you take risks for God because he is worthy of your best?
Are you willing to risk heartbreak for the sake of being fully committed to God and are you willing to turn away from your Buddhist tendencies?
And that's something that I feel God is challenging me on.

And when I consider the gods of Egypt these are kind of the idols of money and power

the outward trappings of success.
And that's what I see kind of in media celebrated in music celebrated in movies around me and to be able to say no to that is my way of saying.
God not what Hollywood celebrates not what Buddhism has taught me but you what you have taught me the life that you want me to have the heart that you want me to hold that's how I will live.

Recommitment Through Repetition

God is making me say this not once, not twice, not three times but again and again every time I worship

to say that God, I give you my love I will live for you.
I believe the same is true for you.God is calling you to repeat your commitment because through repetition, there will be a formation.

Pause and picture yourself among God's people, diciding whether to choose the Load of temptations.

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Friends, we have broken our promises to God many times but he gives us an opportunity to recommit and to repeat again and again the way that we want to live.

A Prayer of Renewed Commitment

And so may you pray may we pray together in a way that you might have prayed before but let's pray it again and ask God to form our hearts according to what we confessed today God, you are our God You are the one that we love.
Help us to turn away from every other way of life

every other coping mechanism help us to be loyal to you as Sir me and my house we will serve the Lord as for us as a community we'll be devoted onto you.
When it's easy we will praise you and thank you for what you've provided.
When it's hard we will cling to you and look towards you for our salvation again and again.
Let it be that we say and we choose that we are yours These things we pray in Christ's name Amen.

"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see."~John Newton