A Mother’s Day message that most fathers will want to read too
L ord . . . .” What about the gener ation which will follow you, Chris tian parent? Will they be ignorant of the new fife in Christ Jesus because you had “ a form of godli ness but denied the power thereof” ? You cannot be bora again for your children, but because you have experienced the sweetness of the new birth you can urge them to “ taste and see that the Lord is good.” The flapper era produced a gener ation of mothers and fathers whose children today are the juvenile de linquents, “ . . . there arose a gen eration . . . which knew not the L ord . . . .” You, Christian parent, stand in the gap between the mad whirlwind blowing these juveniles to destruction and the tender woo- ings of the Spirit of the living God pointing them to Christ and heaven. Which way will your children go? Have you lost your first love? Are you a has-been? Have you gen uinely endeavored to win your own flesh and blood to Jesus Christ? If your children are spiritually illiterate, Christian parent, you are to blame. If your children are spirit ually illiterate, Christian parent, get busy now, today, and teach them the Word. Renew your vows to the Lord and f e e l Hi s l o v e surge through you in cleansing power. Show your children a vibrant, glow ing love for Jesus Christ and defi nitely influence them for Christ. I f y ou d o n ’ t i n f l u e n c e them for Christ, the world and their sin ful natures will influence them for the ways of the devil. Discover the joy of being a soul winner, winning the souls of your own children. “ Lo, children are an heritage of the L ord . . .” (Ps. 127:3). Treasure your heritage and win them to Christ! END.
Israel’s parents were soon back to the “ flesh pots of Egypt.” And their children knew their parents were hypocrites. Today’s children recog nize hypocrisy in their parents. You can’t tell your children to do as you say but not as you do and get away with it. You may fool your friends and close associates but your children see through the veneer and sometimes know you better than you know yourselves. They know when you have lost your first love. Inadequate teaching is the next step in the failure of Israel’s par ents. Indeed, how can one teach anything of the sweetness of belong ing to God without a personal, daily walk with the Lord? God had told the Israelites to teach His Word to their children; to talk about Him in the house, when walking, lying down, rising up. God’s Word will keep your hands, your feet, your lips from sin as you “ eat it, think it, live it.” Nor can one parent rele gate all the teaching of spiritual matters to the other. Father takes the leadership in the teaching but mother teaches also. In too many Christian homes this order is re versed and blessings are lost. If we are to be completely honest we must answer this question: How many homes would have a family devotional period each day if the father took the first step? Mother’s part in the teaching must not be minimized, but it will be more effective if father is in his rightful place . . . “my words . . . thou shalt teach them to thy children.” The culmination of lives marked by incomplete obedience, inconsist ent living and inadequate teaching was the unbelief of an entire gener ation of children. This was inevi table — “ . . . there arose another generation . . . which knew not the
direct command of God started the Israelites off on the wrong foot. God said they were to make no alliances with the heathen in any way. They were to do away with their heathen enemies and obey God’s directives explicitly. For this obedience God had promised, “ I will be with you . . . will pour out blessing upon you . . . will make you the wonder of all the nations of the earth . . . they shall all fear you.” “ And these words, which I com mand thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently to thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” (Deut. 6:6, 7). “ Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and hind them for a sign upon thine hand, that they may be as frontlets be tween your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children . . .” (Deut. 11:18, 19). The experience was first to be personal, “ these words in thine heart . . . lay up these my words in your heart.” There is no change in God’s plan for today. God’s Word must be the meat of parents before their children will acknowledge that Christ does make a difference •— the difference between life and death. No parent can incompletely obey God’s Word without reaping incomplete obedience on the part of his children. That applies to your word as well as God’s. Witness our age of juvenile crime! Inconsistent living was the fruit of Israel’s incomplete obedience. Whenever the people were in a tight spot they cried to God who in great mercy delivered them. With the removal of the enemy’s threat and the lifting of the yoke of oppression,
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The King's Buslness/Moy 1957
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