S P E C I A L C H R I S T I A N HOME S E R I E S GOD GAVE
CHILDREN PARENTS
by Dr. Robert Smith
(See "Note to our Readers" on opposite page.)
cannot be taught to be honest by in stinct. In the providence of God there are long years necessary for the proper development of character. This is why God gave you children. The responsi bility is up to you! The first reason for this is that we might provide for our offspring. This includes provisions in the areas which are physical, mental, moral, esthetical and spiritual. Paul writes to his son in the faith, Timothy, “And one who does not provide for his own, especial ly for his own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an un believer.” This provision is for the physical body, the proper kind of food, health, and medicine when needed. The little child cannot climb out of its crib or playroom and go to a doctor when there is a need, or when some immunization should be given. I was visiting in a certain home when a little boy came up to me and said, “Mr. Smith, I want to show you my pictures.” He got out a box in which he had more than a hundred snapshots which he had taken with an expensive camera his father and mother had gotten for him. Frankly, it would have taken a Ph.D. to operate the thing. Do you know, not a single one of those pictures was in focus. When he had gone out to play I said to his mother, “Have you had little Jimmy’s eyes examined? From the looks of his pictures, it may be he has seriously impaired vision.” She was quite sure it was merely a case that he didn’t know how to use the camera. She
I t was a number of years ago that I was asked to address a Mother’s Club on the aspect of child life. I started by saying, “I happen to be a father. My first child is six weeks old. I am sure that I’m acquainted with all the problems and have all the an swers.” (They chuckled, as did I.) Since that time 1 have become, with my dear wife’s help, a father of five children. Some of them have already established their own homes. In the intervening years I have counselled with young men and women in col leges and universities about marital and family relations. There is no institution in all the world as significant as the family. This is the basic unit and final bulwark of our society. “If you will give us godly Christian homes,” said one of our presi dents a few years ago, “most of our real problems will take care of them selves.” He was right! Human beings, unlike animals take many years to mature. The govern ment says a young man is not old enough to vote until he is 21 years of age. The reason for the difference is that animals are directed by instincts. Whether it be a Baltimore Oriole, building the same kind of a nest which it has built through the years, or the elaborate diving bell of a water spider, the Almighty Creator directs each one in the instincts of its own develop ment. Human beings are not the same. We concern ourselves with mental, moral and spiritual values. A young man
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