parents, but also the church and so ciety in general. Remember, some times you can straighten out a child by bending him over. The third area of a father’s respon sibility, and the one which overshad ows all of the others, is his appointed place of being the spiritual leader in the home. It is true that there are many homes where the husband does not know Jesus Christ as Saviour. As a result the godly wife and mother has to fill in the gap. This is all the more reason in earnestly praying that the man in the home may come to know Jesus Christ as Saviour. Proverbs 22:6 tells us, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” The counsel of the Word of God is very clear and explicit. It is a tremendous responsibility for me as a husband and father to realize that I have the obligation as well as the privilege of being the priest, the spir itual leader in the household. Isaiah 38:19 sums up this principle very clearly and unmistakably. The line of descent, as far as God’s pre cepts are concerned, follows, “The fa ther to the children shall make known thy truth.” The most wonderful thing anyone could say of us was testified by the Lord of Abraham in the long ago, “For I know him, that he will command his children . . . and they shall keep the way of the Lord” (Gen. 18:19). What an unmistakable wit ness. Are we helping our children? We offer gold stars for brushing teeth and their souls are left to decay. Why not the stars in an emphasis upon memorizing Scripture? Father’s spir itual lead should not be something un natural or that which is obviously forced. He can lead his son or daugh ter no further than he himself has gone. You can be content with the reading of some familiar Bible story book at family devotions but this can never supplant your own spiritual growth. Too often we are concerned about our youngster’s C h ristian growth, and well we should, but if you don’t regularly meet with the Lord, don’t expect that your children will
come to greatly value this practice. There must be a consistent day by day faithful practice of Christian principals lived out in our lives. I heard of a certain father who put on a great display of his spiritual prowess. The pastor came to visit one evening. Wanting to impress him the man piously said to his boy, “Sonny, do me a favor and fetch me the Book daddy loves so well.” The lad meant “IF I H AD ON LY KNOW N . . ." If I had known how heavy was the heart, And that a word from me could lift the load, I would have spoken comfort to that soul Who stumbled down life's road. Instead, I passed him, deep In my own thoughts, Nor noticed that his head was bowed with care And that beneath the coldness of his eyes Lay helpless, grim despair. His heart was thirsty, and I gave no drink. His soul was naked, and I clothed it not; And shall this cover in the judgment day: "Forgive me-—-I forgot"? When I returned, I saw him lying there Too weak to listen, too far gone to care, And with remorse, I heard my Saviour say, " I am the One you failed to serve to day." — Barbara C. Ryberg no harm and didn’t know any better. He couldn’t be blamed when he brought back a copy of the Sears- Roebuck catalog. He knew what his father was really like and that he didn’t spend time reading the Bible. You can’t fool a child. How soon they are gone. I remem ber some years ago when our children were much smaller. We lived in a lovely two bedroom home separated 18
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