AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE

        
          If you have seen this picture, it was and probably still is, hanging somewhere in your nana's house. The cross-stitching may or may not have been better than this, but the focal point was always the last portion of Joshua 24:15.
         
          I was recently reading through the book of Joshua, thinking about his influence as a leader, and some of the other men and women that God used during that time. God was moving big for the purpose of fulfilling a promise he made to Abraham many years before. A promise to make his descendants as many as the stars in the sky and the sand in the desert, even when Abraham's wife was barren and old. It was a time during which Israel seemed unstoppable, their army tearing through all opposition. After many wars and conquests, Joshua led the people to the Promised Land that God promised them. Joshua apportioned the land to each tribe, and then gave his farewell speech.

          Joshua reminded the people of what God had done since His presence came down on the nation of Israel. How He chose Abram (Abraham) to be His man. How Jacob and his family were led into Egypt for so many years, eventually becoming slaves. How Moses led the enslaved nation out of bondage. How they crossed the Red Sea. How they defeated so many others. God's presence was big for Israel, yet Joshua still chose to say this.

                   “Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the  gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 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.”

(Joshua 24:14-15 ESV)

          We commonly only see that last snippet hung in frames over mantels and above doorways in houses. We commonly misunderstand the intent. Joshua was giving them an ultimatum: you either worship the gods of the river that your fathers worshiped, or you worship Jehovah God. There was no debating, no critical thinking, just people deciding who they would follow. Some people do not see this so easily. It's not simply a matter of God or Satan. Today, it's typically God or Science, God or Reason, God or Logic, God or Self. But I simply see it this way; will you serve God or Science, God or Reason, God or Logic, God or Self? 

          

          That is what it all boils down to. We wrestle with God like He is a being to be wrestled with. Does anyone remember God on the mountain in Exodus? Does anyone remember God in response to Job? Does anyone remember God's love come to Earth and handed over for execution? I'm not per se scared of God in a frightful boogie-monster way, but I fear God because I am small. I fear God because He is good, and I am not, and He has the right to enact justice on me. I love God because I am small and He is big. I love God because He is good and I am not, and He does have the right to enact justice on me. Yet through Jesus I avoid what I have deserved. Grace...

         

          "As for me and my house" is not a bumper sticker term for me. It's the understanding that I choose God over all the other gods of this earth. I serve Him because He is worthy of being served. That is all. Let it be.