“...As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Josh. 24:15).
“As for me…” – Joshua began with himself. We cannot too strongly press the truth that for a godly education the first and the most essential requisite is personal consecration. It is good to reflect on our responsibility, to study our duties and the best way of fulfilling them, to speak with our children, and to pray much for them – but all these may be called accessories. The first thing on the part of the parent is a life devoted to God and His service. It is this that creates the spiritual atmosphere the children are to breathe. It is this that gives our performance of duty and our dealings with our children their spiritual influence. It is this that gives our praying and our working its value with God.
“As for me” – there must be no hesitation or half-heartedness in the consciousness or the confession of devotion to God’s service. As often as the prayer for God’s blessing on the children comes up, it must be in the spirit of David: “Thou, Lord God, knowest Thy servant. Therefore now let it please Thee to bless the house of Thy servant” (see First Chronicles 17:18, 27). With God and men, in the home and out of it, as well as in the hearts of parents themselves, it must be a settled thing: “As for me, I will serve the Lord.”
