But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
—Joshua 24:15
Take your stand for all who belong to you: “As for me, and my house, we will serve the Lord.” There are religious parents who do not understand that it is their duty and their privilege. They do not understand what God has put in their power. They imagine they honor God by thinking that the religion of their children is dependent on God’s will apart from their involvement as parents. They are so occupied, either with the activities of this life or with religious work, that they cannot find the time for speaking and acting out the grand decisions: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Perhaps, the father leaves the religion of the children to the care of the mother, and the mother thinks that the father as head is more responsible. They hesitate or neglect to come to a clear and definite understanding, and the spiritual education of their children does not take the prominent place it ought to be in the parent’s relationship.
Let each believing parent receive Joshua’s words, first, in the depth of his own soul, then in fellowship with marriage partner and children. In our prayers and conversations, we must say that our house is holy to the Lord. Our children must be trained first of all for God and His service. The more we express this belief, the more this principle will assert itself and help us to guide our household to serve the Lord, too.
Excerpt taken from Raising your Children for Christ by Andrew Murray. This excerpt can be found in Chapter 15. Public Domain.