The Christian Home
“As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).
There is no place in all this world so wholesome and refreshing as a Christian home, a home where Christ is truly loved and honored.
This writer was brought up in such a home. There were ten of us: dad, mother and eight children. There was lots going on all the time, but a truly happy home it was, for dad and mother never let us get so busy with temporal things that we brushed eternal values aside.
On the basis that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:4), we read some small portion of the Bible before every meal, and had family devotions before retiring at night.
Result: all eight children have blessed the dear dad and mother who led them aright, morally and spiritually, and best of all, taught them the importance of trusting in the Savior who died for all our sins. More: five of the children and many of the grandchildren have given themselves for full time Christian service, and have become pastors, college deans, Christian writers and missionaries in various parts of the world.
This is not because we are one whit better than others, but because we have experienced the help and grace of God in our lives. And it all began as, one day, a young American, like Joshua of old, came to a decision and declared:
“As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
After Moses dies, Joshua leads the people in conquest and gets them established in the land. Then, as his death approaches, Joshua calls Israel together once again to challenge them to renew the covenant and confirm their willingness to serve the Lord. Like Moses, he offers them a choice. They must serve the Lord or serve the gods of the surrounding nations. (It would never have occurred to them that they could serve no gods. Everyone served a god of some sort; it was just a matter of which one.) Either way, Joshua said, they will reap the consequences of their choice. Joshua expresses his personal commitment to the Lord in Joshua 24:14–15:
“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped 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.”
The people expressed their good intentions in Joshua 24:16: “Then the people answered, ‘Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods!’”
Yes, this is so true especially in today's life. Christ in a family home is not something we see everyday, and that is the reason so many children are left in the dark to fend for themselves :(