Thursday, April 23 — As For Me And My House
You have probably seen the verse on a wooden sign at somebody's front door. "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." It's a lovely sentiment tacked up in a hallway. But the day Joshua said it, it wasn't decor — it was a line in the dirt.
Joshua 24:15-21 — KJV 15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. 16 And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods; 17 For the LORD our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed: 18 And the LORD drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land: therefore will we also serve the LORD; for he is our God. 19 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. 20 If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good. 21 And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the LORD.
Joshua 24:15-21 — WEB 15 If it seems evil to you to serve Yahweh, choose today whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh." 16 The people answered, "Far be it from us that we should forsake Yahweh, to serve other gods; 17 for it is Yahweh our God who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way in which we went, and among all the peoples through the middle of whom we passed. 18 Yahweh drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve Yahweh; for he is our God." 19 Joshua said to the people, "You can't serve Yahweh, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your disobedience nor your sins. 20 If you forsake Yahweh, and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you evil, and consume you, after he has done you good." 21 The people said to Joshua, "No, but we will serve Yahweh."
Explanation
Joshua is old. He has led Israel across the Jordan, around the walls of Jericho, and into the land God promised their ancestors. Now, gathered at Shechem — a site heavy with covenant memory, the place where Abraham first built an altar when he entered the land — Joshua calls the tribes together for a farewell address. And the speech he gives isn't a victory lap. It's a question. Who are you going to serve now that the dust has settled?
He names the competition honestly. There are the old gods their fathers worshiped on the other side of the Euphrates, back in the Mesopotamian world Abraham left behind. There are the new gods of the Amorites, the familiar local deities of the land they just moved into. Neither one of those choices has been erased simply because Israel is finally home. Joshua doesn't pretend those pulls aren't real. He lays them out on the table and then speaks for the only household he can speak for — his own. "As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
Notice that he doesn't say "as for me." He says "me and my house." In the ancient Near East, the head of a household was responsible for the spiritual direction of everyone under his roof — wife, children, servants, extended family. Joshua is not coercing them. He's leading them. He is putting his own family's allegiance on public record before he invites anyone else to do the same. That order matters. It is much easier to tell a nation what to worship than to go home and live it in your own kitchen.
The people respond well — "God forbid that we should forsake the Lord" — and they recite the salvation history. They remember Egypt. They remember the signs. They remember being preserved. Good theology. But Joshua doesn't let them off easy. "Ye cannot serve the Lord," he warns, "for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God." He is pressing them to count the cost. The God of Israel is not a casual commitment, a hobby, or a cultural habit. To serve him is to serve him alone.
For the Christian home in a modern world, this passage does two hard things. First, it names the competing gods. We have them too, and they are not usually made of wood. Career. Comfort. Screens. Approval. The quiet gods we bow to without realizing we've knelt. Second, it asks whoever leads the household to put their own allegiance on the table first. You can't legislate the faith of the people under your roof. But you can go first. You can make it plain what your house serves — by where your money goes, where your time goes, where your attention goes, who you pray for at the dinner table, whether a Bible ever gets opened on a weeknight. A Christian home is not an inherited label. It is a decision that keeps getting made.
Thought for the Day: "As for me and my house" is not a slogan for the wall. It's a line in the dirt for the week.
Reflection: If somebody watched your household for seven days — your calendar, your spending, your conversations — what would they say you actually serve? What's one thing you can put down this week to make your answer clearer?
Prayer: God of Joshua, you asked our ancestors to choose, and you are still asking us. We confess we have knelt quietly before smaller gods — comfort, career, image, distraction — without meaning to. Forgive us. Give us the courage to lead our own houses first, not by lecturing but by showing. Let our calendars and our checkbooks and our dinner tables say what our lips say: that we will serve you. Amen.
This week we walk toward Sunday's lesson: The Christian Home in a Modern World.