Billy Graham’s radio program starting in 1950, was called, The Hour of Decision. He preached a sermon and asked people to decide to follow Christ. In all of our lives, there are moments in which we must decide. The decisions we make so often make us.
Preachers calling for decisions goes back even further in time. Remember Joshua said, “Choose this day whom you will serve . . .” When the Israelites did not overcome the Canaanites, Joshua’s worst fears were realized. The people started serving foreign gods, especially Baal, the fertility god. King Ahab and his wife Jezebel were very religious, but they did not serve Yahweh, the Lord.
The prophet Elijah prayed it wouldn’t rain and for three years it did not. Having garnered the nation’s undivided attention, he challenged them to choose between God and Baal. With their feet planted firmly in mid-air, the people were decisively indecisive. They didn’t want to offend the Lord and they didn't want to offend Baal. So Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to get their god to answer by fire. Because false gods never fail to fail, Baal never showed up to the contest. He was a zero without the rim. So Elijah rebuilt the altar, poured water on the wood just to make it interesting, and then called on the name of the Lord. God answered decisively with fire licking up the water in the trench, consuming the wood, and vaporizing the rocks. Now the people decided to worship the Lord.
Calvin said our hearts are “idol-making factories.” Even in our claims of devotion to God, if we are not careful we are serving ourselves. Christians in our country commonly worship the idol mammon and confuse it with God. The hymn sounds like this: “God wants to make me rich. Whoever makes sure I have money I will follow.” This is clearly not the gospel of the New Testament. Sometimes we have to choose. Are we more devoted to God or to the idols which give us what we want when we want it. They are not one and the same God. They never have been. Choose this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house, it will be the Lord and nothing else. If you wonder what time it is today, it is time to decide.
