King's Business - 1962-05

KING’S BUSINESS CHRISTIAN HOME fEATURE

N ow t h e r e f o r e fear the Lord, and serve him in sin­ cerity and in truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:14-15). The title of this message is expressed in the language of children who frequently refer to their parents in this manner. There is no desire on the part of the writer to be disrespectful in the use of these familiar terms, nor to pose as being funny. These abbreviated words refer to parents in the tender relationships of family life and are readily understood by all of us. While “Mom” and “ Dad” are very common words, yet they immediately bring before us the tremendous fact of parenthood. The subject before us is one of great and grave im­ portance. Though I am a father and our five children have been singularly blessed with a consecrated and

life. We believe Billy Sunday was right when he said, “ the wave of lawlessness which has been sweeping our land is largely due to the lack of control in the home. Outlawism is not settled by the street mob; it’s a question of obedience in the home.” We confront signs everywhere which say “ Safety First” but in this tragic hour we could well change them to read, “ Home First.” Who will deny that the mother of Moses did more for the world than the king who built the Pyramids of Egypt or an Alexander who conquered nations? As we face this subject, let us give consideration to what we choose to call Parental Deliberations Parents need to sit down and engage themselves in a frank discussion of their task. Their duties need to be examined in the light of divine revelation. The Bible has much to say about fathers and mothers and also about the rearing of children. Home life is not neglected on the pages of the sacred Guide Book. God would not be so cruel as to call upon parents to rear children for His glory without teaching them how to do it and also

providing the necessary wisdom for it. Our dawdling delinquency as parents is due to our dull perception of divine revelation. The father needs to take stock of himself, and like David of old, stop and think on his way. Fatherhood must be the greatest thing in the world since God reveajs Himself in this highest and most sacred of all relation­ ships. God has manifested Himself as supreme, as the Creator of all things, but the best of all is the revelation of Himself as Father, and as such He is the source and imparter of life. A hush of silence sweeps over us as we breathe the word “mother.” Christianity exalts motherhood as no other religion in the history of the world. In His incar­ nation our Lord entered our humanity through the portals of a woman’s life and thus in a special sense sanctified motherhood. To be a mother is to hold the reins of a nation. A mother’s hand is mightier than a king’s scepter and this being true every mother is called to utmost consideration of her high office. God’s Word calls upon us to redeem the time because the days are evil. We believe there is no better way to redeem it and to make it count for most than to spend some of it meditating upon the duties which belong to parenthood. To slight the office by neglect is to bring children into the world with the gravest of handicaps, when they are entitled to the best possible advantages.

devoted mother, I do not profess to know all the answers to the perplexing problems which confront parents. I do know, beyond a shadow of a doubt that whatever destroys the unity of a home is ruinous to church and state alike. The only One who has all the answers involv­ ing home life is One who Himself never had a home of His own. And He, who never had a wife in the flesh nor any children, is the only One who can give the cor­ rect advice as to parenthood and to the rearing of a family. I know full well that the One who has called upon parents to build a home according to the will of God is the One who will provide the material necessary for such a home. I am confident that the reason so many homes go on the rocks is that they are not built upon the Rock. Parental neglect of spiritual training is one of the great­ est causes of juvenile delinquency which is plaguing our country at this hour. The reason so many children are growing up with a satanic scale of values is that we have not assumed the responsibilities of parenthood with more of a desire to glorify God. While we point the finger of blame in the direction of the school because God has been ruled out of modern education, and we lift our voices against the church because in many instances it has failed in the substitution of a humanistic philosophy for the Divine, yet the principal cause of moral failure among our youth harks back to the breakdown of home­

THE KING'S BUSINESS

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