Me And My House

Joshua 24: 15

If serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. 

This is at the end of Joshua's life, after he had led the Hebrew armies to conquer all the peoples who had previously settled in the land of Canaan and they took over their cities. They were in "a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant" (24:13). 

The houses they were living in were filled with the shrines and altars to these idols that were the reason God had the Israelites destroy them. God called these gods "detestable" because they demanded rites that were degrading and disgusting. 

But since the land was filled with them, and some of the people remained who worshiped them, they were a snare to the Hebrews. The next chapter starts the book of Judges, that records several cycles of God blessing the people, then they get complacent, then they forget God and start giving their allegiance to these idols, then they're overcome by an enemy, then they call out to God, and He sends a rescuer (a Judge) to deliver them, and they turn back to God, who prospers them again. Over and over. 

Joshua told them that they would not be able to consistently obey God (24:19). But he had determined that he would ignore all these idols and worship only the Lord. 

I have also determined that the Lord God, Jesus Christ, alone will be Lord in my home. And He has been. 

Whatever house becomes my home will have the blessing of my Father and my Lord Jesus upon it. And I trust as I leave one home to go to another, that my Lord will still be Lord in the home I am leaving, with the new occupants uplifting His Name as I have. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!