Pick your canoe!
Dear friends,
“If you want to go on the ocean, you cannot plant your feet in two canoes at the same time. You have to pick your canoe.” John Igos
Recently we have been translating and checking Aruamu Old Testament sections of scripture. One morning, we worked through the section in Joshua 24, where Joshua challenges the Israelites: “Choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
As our team was visiting during a coffee break, my Aruamu co-worker John Igos articulated this remarkable insight:
“As we have been working on Old Testament translation, I keep seeing this big idea. God is a God of mercy. But he is also angry at sin. He is a jealous God. He is not happy with people worshiping false gods and idols, and saying they worship him at the same time. He wants people to worship ONLY him. I think it is like this. If you want to go on the ocean, you cannot plant your feet in two canoes at the same time. You have to pick your canoe, which canoe you are going to go in. It’s just like that. You can’t worship two things at once.
“Before we came to follow God, we were living fearfully, worshiping spirit gods. Now, when problems come and we must not fall back to consult the shaman and worship spirit gods. That would be like planting your two feet in two canoes at the same time.
“Joshua’s talk is very good. We must choose what god we will worship and serve. It is not possible to worship the spirit gods or things of this ground, and truly follow the true God at the same time. Every day I will ask myself, ‘Which canoe are you in? Are you in the canoe of the things of this ground, or are you in God’s canoe?’ We must pick. We cannot be a 50-50 half-half follower of God. We must not look back at our old life, or at the world. We must not worship any other god, but only the true God, the God of heaven.”
My friend John Igos gets it! The Lord requires 100% commitment! “Are you in the canoe of the things of this ground, or are you in God’s canoe? We must pick.”
Thank you so much for with us in this ministry, bringing the Word to life in the far corners of the world.
Blessings to you,
Marsha Miles
(for Nathan, as well)
