“As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Scripture is a beautiful thing to adorn the walls of your home. At the church and at our house we have bible verses framed or painted on wood that serve as both decoration and a reminder of God’s word. This seems to be a rather popular thing nowadays but the danger with this is of course that a single verse alone is easily taken out of context. These decorations however are a wonderful way in which we can be encouraged by God’s word and be reminded of His instruction. One of the ones that I see most often is from Joshua 24:15.
“15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, 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.””
It isn’t often that the whole verse is quoted but rather just the ending “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” It is a rather bold declaration that the house in which you put this is serving the Lord and will serve the Lord. It’s wonderful, but how often do we evaluate whether or not we are serving the Lord in our households to the extent that we are called to do so? We should desire to be a people that truly serves the Lord and in the context of our homes we must consider our families devotion to the Lord.
In the context of Joshua 24, Joshua is establishing a covenant with God’s people in light of all that God has done for them. He gives them instruction here to pick and choose who it is that they are going to serve, whether it be God or some false gods. When they tell Joshua that they want to serve God because He has been their God, he then tells them that they can’t do it. They won’t be able to. God is holy. They are going to fail. Yet they hold firm to their desire to serve God along with Joshua and his house. Joshua then makes a covenant with them, records it in the law, places a large stone of remembrance and they agree to put away all false foreign gods from among them.
Throughout the continued history of Israel however the people cannot keep this covenant. They continually turn to other gods and dive headfirst into sin. The people who make the claim that they will serve God continually might have done so for a time but their children and grandchildren do not continue in this covenant. This is a struggle that I believe we still face today and there are many factors that play into this. How is it that we can encourage our kids to serve God faithfully?
Firstly, it is important that we pray for our kids. If we understand salvation to be a gift from the Lord then we cannot save our kids by merely teaching them and instructing them. Teaching them and instructing them however I believe is the other half of the battle. As much as that will not save them alone, the Lord desires us to take part in teaching and preparing others in service of Him. So, teach your kids the truth of scripture. That’s simple enough, right? We can send them to church for that, right?
One of the things that a parent quickly learns as their kids start to grow is that they take note of everything that you do. They catch on and they begin to mimic the things you do. This can often times seem like a bad thing because we tend to notice it when they mimic our flaws but the reality is that they are learning and looking to us for guidance. When they see their parents devote hours a day to a TV or stare at their phone, they begin to think that is what is supposed to be done. When they see their parents and grandparents skip church for this or that they might begin to think that church itself isn’t all that important. In this time in which we cannot attend church because we aren’t having services it is extremely important that they understand why that is. Let them not think that we don’t attend out of fear or lack of love but because we love one another greatly and, in this time, it is a struggle for us not to attend church. It is just as important though that in this time and always though that they see that we are more than Sunday morning Christians. This is true not just of children but of spouses and friends and neighbors. It’s not shocking that people will determine based upon your actions whether or not you actually believe what you proclaim on Sunday morning.
I grew up going to church every Sunday morning and as a kid I never quite understood why other than that is what we were going to do. Nonetheless, as my parents attended church then so would I. When I would go over to my grandmother’s house though I remember clearly on multiple occasions busting into her house to find her sitting at the kitchen table reading through her bible, her church prayer list, or some devotional booklet. These memories stand out to me because what it showed me was that her faith in God was genuine and that she desired not just to fulfill a Sunday morning mandate but to grow in her faith and learn more about Christ.
Witnessing my grandmother’s devotion to study became a huge encouragement for me in growing in the faith. She made it clear that for her, her faith went beyond Sunday morning. I believe that this, along with witnessing the care, concern, and passion of a local minister led me to actually listen intently to the preaching of the word which God would use to give me faith in Him.
I wonder how many children nowadays witness the faith of their parents and grandparents during the week. Is it evident in their daily lives that God deserves our worship and praise or is it just a Sunday morning thing? If it’s just a Sunday morning thing then how are these families replicating that when we cannot gather on Sundays right now?
I think what is clear is that children need to see the devotion of their parents to the word of God and their parents need to make this devotion known to their kids. This means that we don’t always hide away during our devotional time but also that we don’t willingly give it up when things seem to distract us or get in the way. Furthermore, we should not only seek to find time for personal devotions but family devotions. Family devotions should not take place of our personal quiet time with the Lord but should be something we use to stress the importance of gathering as a family over God’s word. The format of such a thing isn’t outlined in scripture and honestly might look different for each family but I want to encourage you to consider firstly doing family devotions and secondly, incorporating these things in that time.
1. Scripture reading. A family devotion without scripture reading might not actually qualify for family devotion time at all. So, pick up your bible and begin reading. Starting in either Genesis or John is not a bad idea as you desire to grow in the knowledge of the truth but if you’ve got a devotional book that points you to scripture itself that might help too. For families with kids I know that some people prefer to use bible story books such as the Jesus Storybook Bible and honestly that one in particular does a wonderful job at pointing to Christ and the need for Him throughout the whole of God’s word. An actual translation however would be best. If you have a NKJV, an ESV, or an NIV these are all version that are rather easy to understand and where the words are beyond your child’s level it gives you an opportunity to explain the text in further detail and sometimes study for yourself.
2. Songs and Praise. Depending on the age of your kids or whether or not you have kids these songs could range from “Jesus loves me” to the same hymns you sing at church. If you can’t remember the words to those hymns, that’s okay, give me a call and I’ll hook you up with a hymnal that has probably been sitting in the backroom of the church for years.
3. Prayer. Who doesn’t have something to pray for? Praise God as you recognize what He has given you each day and bring your cares and concerns before Him. You’d be amazed by the number of things that kids want to pray for and the more they learn to depend on the Lord they more they will want to bring before Him. Even if they don’t want to pray, this is an opportunity to show them how to pray and trust in God for all things around us. If all you do is pray before dinner then all you’re showing those around you is that you don’t want to get food poisoning. Trust God with everything. Pray continually and let others see that you need the Lord.
4. Catechize. Catechisms are beautiful ways by which we can teach and memorize important doctrines. Recently in Sunday School we worked our way through “The New City Catechism” and of course there are many others out there. The New City Catechism has all their questions and answers free online and in an app for your phone making it easy to access and it even has a kid’s version, which for some reason they’ve added songs to.
If you’re not already doing family devotions, setting apart time to do all of these things might prove difficult but the reward will be great. I would recommend that you prepare your family for this by explaining what it is that you would like to do, why you would like to do it, and then ease into it without giving up when life seems too busy or when your children want to jump around instead of sit and cooperate.
Each and every believer would gladly proclaim “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” But how many of us are actually devoting the time to ensure that we are serving God and that we want to see our children serving God. That requires a lot of effort on our part.
I encourage you today to devote yourself to the study of God’s word, praying for one another, and worshipping God in all that you do. May those around you see this devotion and your desire for God to be glorified.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Pastor Kyle Horton
If you’re interested in a book that might dive into this just a little bit further, I would recommend “Family Worship” by Donald Whitney that can be found here for purchase or contact me and you can borrow one of the copies that we have at the church.