This line from a verse in Joshua talks about the household, and it refers to not just the individual believer, but everyone at home, the people that are part of the writer’s immediate circle. The home is the foundation of our lives, representing security, comfort, family, stability. It’s where we feel, well, “at home.” Nowhere else feels like home but home. There are so many places in the world today where, either due to wars or political strife, people do not feel safe in their homes, and this has an enormous impact on lives. Without the basic security and protection provided by a stable home, all else tends to fall by the wayside. Therefore, we should always be grateful for our happy and secure homes, and pray constantly for the protection and safety of those who do not have this comfort.
While, as individuals, we have a mission or a function to carry out as Christians, here in our homes, we have a role to play as well, and a direction. What does a household do? I pray fervently each day for others in my family to come to God, but at this stage, I am the only one in my household who has decided to follow Jesus the way he commands us to, and while I make mistakes and miss the mark, I am firm in my practice and my beliefs. My family supports me in my work and my faith, which I am very happy about, and so by supporting me, they too are doing God’s work, even though the may not consider it that way. But, hey, I do… and this makes me glad.
In this passage of Scripture, the author refers to the households that follow different ancestral gods, or pagan gods, and he says that he doesn’t pay attention to all that, he doesn’t care what other households do. He says that his household “serves the Lord.” He’s making a mission statement for himself and everyone he’s responsible for in the household. Of course, all families do their own thing. Some families focus on making money, or acquiring property or possessions, while some families throw themselves into sport. There are a huge number of preoccupations, and directions that families have, and some households are just trying to survive from day to day.
But how good do you feel when, at the end of the day, you can all sit together and say with all the love in your hearts, “We have served the Lord.” There is no higher purpose than this, and doing the work as part of a unified group, a tightly knit household, makes serving the Lord even more rewarding and effective.
Tell Out My Soul 
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