Above it all, however, the thing that impresses me most is how he led his home. In Joshua 24:15 he says, “…choose this day whom you will serve…whether the gods your fathers served…or the gods of the Amorites…But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” This is a man who didn’t just stand by and hope that his family would turn out okay. He didn’t just drop his kids off at youth group and wish upon a star that they would fall in love with Jesus. He took his role as the head of his household very seriously and boldly proclaimed that his family was going to serve God.

Today we are seeing a wonderful thing happening in that men are placing their families as high on their priority list as their wives are. However, George Barna’s research shows that although “fathers also tend to list family as their top priority in life…they are much less likely to equally attribute importance to faith.” This means they want to lead their families, but, the concept of leading them spiritually is compeletly foreign to a lot of them.

I remember at a church I was working at there was a very family that began attending. The mom was bipolar with physical disabilities that were worsening, the daughter was offering to perform sexual favors for some of the teen guys and threatening to beat up other ones, and she had attempted suicide in the past. The dad had watched his family deteriorate over a few years because the promotion he received at work demoted him from being able to take his family to church anymore. My pastor asked him if, at any point when things began to get out of hand, he had grabbed his family, prayed with them, and asked God to help their situations. His answer was a lethargic “no”. Instead he just sat back and observed this happening all the while wishing his family was not so messed up.

It’s great that men are placing a higher priority on their family. However, unless we take our responsibilities as the priests of our households seriously we are going to miss the mark as to what is most important—an active relationship with Jesus Christ. We can’t be passive when it comes to the spiritual well being of our families and hope for the best. We need a generation of fathers who will rise up and triumphantly proclaim, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!” We need a generation of fathers who will do more than take their family to church but, instead, will passionately pursue a relationship with Jesus Christ and lead by example. We need fathers who will teach their sons how to be a man of God and show their daughters what one looks like so they’ll know what to wait for in a future husband.

Are you man enough for this? Then be a Joshua type of leader and take ownership of your family’s spiritual well being. Remember, it starts with you and it is absolutely never too late to begin! Here’s what you can do to get started: