Daily Devotional · Joshua 24:14–15
As for Me and My House
Reflection
At the end of Joshua's long life, he gathered all the tribes of Israel at Shechem and gave a final address. He recounted everything God had done from Abraham to the present — the call, the slavery, the exodus, the wilderness, the conquest. The entire history was a story of God's initiative and faithfulness. Then the challenge: "Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates 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." And then the most famous domestic declaration in all of Scripture: "But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." Joshua did not wait for the crowd to decide before announcing his own commitment. He went first. He modeled the decision he was calling others to make. This is leadership: going first, making your own allegiance clear before asking others for theirs. The people responded: "We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God." And Joshua made a covenant with them that day. What a leader decides about God ripples through generations. Joshua's declaration shaped Israel. A parent's declaration shapes a household. Your daily choice about whom you serve sets the direction of the household you inhabit.
Background
Shechem was a deeply significant location — it was where Abraham first arrived in Canaan and built an altar (Genesis 12:6–7), where Jacob buried foreign gods (Genesis 35:4), and where the bones of Joseph were buried (Joshua 24:32). Joshua chose this location deliberately: a place where previous generations had made choices about God. He was inviting this generation to add their name to that story.
Truth
Every household has an altar — a center around which the household's deepest values are organized. The question is not whether your house serves something, but what. Joshua's declaration is an invitation to intentionality: choose explicitly, announce clearly, model consistently.
Application
What does your household currently serve — your schedule, your spending, your conversations reveal it? Make Joshua's declaration your own today: write it, speak it aloud to God, and identify one specific change that makes it true this week.