If it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
The choice is public, and it includes the house.
Week 1 of 4
As for me and my house
You cannot lead a household toward a God you only visit.
But as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh.
Joshua 24:15
Joshua does not begin with the children. He begins with a man who has already chosen. “As for me and my house” is not a slogan for a plaque. It is a man refusing the gods of the land he lives in, and then binding his house to that refusal. A husband who wants family worship without a personal walk is asking his wife and children to follow a voice he does not follow on Tuesday. The house will imitate what you actually serve.
Scripture
Formal study reading, written for this series
Formal study reading, written for this series
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
The words are on his heart before they are on the doorpost.
Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
A man’s private delight becomes the family’s climate.
NASB, the Amplified, and the ESV open on Bible Hub. The Legacy Standard Bible opens on its own reader. Close, Expanded, and Easy on this page are original study readings. WEB is the World English Bible, public domain.
The house follows a real man
Joshua’s line is often quoted as if the house could serve the Lord while the man serves the age and adds an amen. The Hebrew puts “I” and “my house” under one verb. There is one service. Deuteronomy 6 will not let the father skip to verse 7, the teaching of the children, until verse 6 has happened: these words on your heart.
Psalm 1 is the shape of that heart. Delight and meditation are not techniques for a family devotional. They are the man’s own life with God. Children can smell a performance. So can a wife who has watched you for years. Lead by being led.
In the house
Before you reform the family, tell the truth about your own Scripture and prayer. If it is thin, say so, and start in the open. A small honest walk is safer than a grand performance.
Name the gods of the land you actually serve: the screen, the grievance, the money worry, the need to be admired. Joshua made Israel name theirs. You can start with one.
Seven days
At the table
- 1What would your house say you serve if they only had your calendar?
- 2Are the words of God on your heart, or only on your opinions?
- 3What god of this land have you not yet refused?
- 4Are you asking them to follow a voice you ignore when you are tired?
Your note
Stays on this device. No account.
A prayer
Lord, I will not drag a house toward a God I only mention. Put your words on my heart before I put them on theirs. I refuse the gods that have been eating my attention. As for me and this house, we will serve you. Make that sentence true of me first. Amen.