they are too young to understand who God is, those little tots can get that atmosphere of prayer. They can learn at an early age the worshipful spirit and then be taught the other points later on. I know very well what some of the hindrances to family worship are. We have met some of them in our home, those things that keep us from having worship. If they don’t keep us from having it, they keep us from having it as regularly as we should. “ We Just Haven’t Time” I suppose the most common hindrance is, “We just haven’t time.” Now let’s analyze this business of not having time. We all have the same number of hours in one day. You know there are a lot of inequalities in our world, but no one has any “ edge” on anyone else in this matter. We all have 24 hours in a day. Now the Bible tells us to seek first the kingdom of God and His right eousness. Everything else is sec ondary. You find time to do the things you really want to do. I hope and pray that somehow God will take this message and use it to create in you such a desire to have fam ily worship, that you will quit being so busy with some of those things that are not important and get busy with a program of worship and Bible teaching in the home. A woman was heard to say in response to our teaching on pri vate devotions, “ I don’t have time to stop for prayer. I just couldn’t get my work done.” Friends, if we’re too busy for prayer, we’re too busy. We are doing some things we shouldn’t. I don’t mean that family devo tions should be long—that point will be discussed later, — but I believe that time for family wor ship can be arranged if we man age right. You’d be surprised how much time you would have for worship if your family would rise ten minutes earlier in the morn ing and if the older children
■ w a n t y o u to look at that little • child of yours there in your home right now. Or if he is out side or away from home, think of him now in light of this truth that H IS LIFE HAD A BEGINNING BUT W ILL NEVER HAVE A N END. You remember well the day he was born, but you will never know the day when he ceases to exist. That child, even though he dies a natural death, will live on and on. Can you see then how very ur gent it is for us parents who are responsible for our children, to have a definite program of wor ship and Christian teaching in our home? It will contribute more than anything else to the happi ness and usefulness of our chil dren in this world and to their well being in the world hereafter. Good intentions are not enough. We must get down to specific things — to actually arrange for regular periods set aside in the home routine for family prayers and devotions. By the way, sometimes we talk about the “ family altar.” As a child I didn’t understand that word for a long time. But I un derstand now that in Bible times
the altar was a place where God met His people. And so that is our thought in talking about the family altar — having worship where the family gathers around the Word and where God meets with the family. We Must Do Some Soul Searching I want to do some soul search ing on my own, and I want you to search your own heart too, with these questions: What am I doing to provide for the spiritual needs o f my chil dren? Am I teaching them to pray? Am I reading them Bible sto ries or helping them to read the Bible for themselves? Am I doing all that I can to make possible regular worship periods in the home? As the days come and go, am I helping our children to see their own sinful natures and their need of Christ as a Saviour to them personally? A further question — Am I the kind of Christian I should be so that there is created in the home a Christian atmosphere that can be felt and absorbed by even the smallest children? Even when
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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