file: /pub/resources/text/Our.Daily.Bread: db941020.txt
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OUR DAILY BREAD                 Thursday, October 20,1994
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READ: Joshua 24:14-25

                       "A LOUD FIZZLE"

                Choose for yourselves this day
              whom you will serve ... But as for
            me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

                        - Joshua 24:15

Abe Lincoln told the story of a blacksmith who heated a
piece of iron in the forge, not knowing what he was going to
make. At first he thought of shaping it into a horseshoe
but changed his mind. After hammering on the iron for a
while, he decided to try to make it into something else. By
this time the metal was no longer malleable. Holding it up
with his tongs and looking at it with disgust, the
blacksmith tossed it into a vat of water. "Well," he
shrugged, "at least I can make a fizzle out of it!"

Joshua would have seen an important lesson in that story.
He knew that a meaningful life must have clear purpose.
"Choose!" he urged his followers. If you're not going to
live for God, then decide against Him. If you are going to
live for God, then let your life reflect that decision. But
whatever you do, decide! Joshua made it clear that he and
his family had made their choice to serve the Lord (24:15).
For him, life was not an amusement park but an arena where
important decisions had to be made.

What about you? If you don't choose to trust Christ and
serve Him, all you will have to show for the living of your
days will be a loud fizzle.

Author: Haddon W. Robinson

        Joyfully enlisting
        By Thy grace divine,
        We are on the Lord's side,
        Savior, we are Thine.

        - Havergal

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
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If you decide not to choose,
   you've already made the wrong choice.

The Bible in One Year: Matthew 20-22


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Our Daily Bread, Copyright 1994, used by permission of Radio
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