tian) to realize that wives were to be in subjection to their husbands. She couldn’t see that such a foolish set up was proper. The teacher suggested, “How many presidents of the United States do we have?” She began to get the picture. If mother tries to be head of the house, then there are going to be real problems. It is not a case of superiority or inferiority, for we are PRAYER LIFE TESTS Has my prayer life been powerless be cause of some besetting sin? Has my prayer life been hindered by haste, irregularity, indefiniteness, insufficient preparation, unbelief, neglect of Bible study? Has my prayer life been fruitless? Have I had such power with God that I have had power with people? Have I had definite answers to prayer week by week? Has my prayer life been restricted merely to short, stated seasons of prayer or have I come to know what it means to "pray without ceas ing"? Has my prayer life been limited to prayer for myself? My family? My work? My church? My own in terests? Or have I taken the world into my heart and into my prayers? Has my prayer life been starved? Or have I devoted time to the study of God's Word about prayer? Do I know His precepts and promises? Has my prayer life been joyless? Do I love to pray? Or is prayer more of a duty than a delight? Has my prayer life been growing? Do I daily know more of the mean ing and power of prayer? Has my prayer life been sacrificial? Has it cost me anything in time, strength, vitality, love? all equal before the Lord. This is sim ply the way the Lord has ordained the home to work effectively and efficient ly. When this woman saw the error of her ways, she had the intestinal fortitude to admit it to her whole family. She had been overstepping her bounds and there were problems none of them could face. She asked for their patience as she sought the Lord’s strength to mature further in God’s
grace. She was willing to admit her error. If we are willing to admit our own limitations and weaknesses, not only does it make for growth in Christlike- ness but also it makes for growth in our family. If you admit your error to day you are not as apt to make it tomorrow. One of the most significant ways by which you will grow in grace and become as the Saviour is to break down the barriers of hostility and hatred. Do you ever seek the forgive ness of others for things you have done or said? How can you expect to be right before the Lord unless you do? In family relationships there is a great deal of sin against the other. Ask each other's forgiveness. See your weaknesses and limitations. H ow honest will you be with yourself as well as with the Lord? The Holy Spir it desires to make you as a clean vessel for the Master’s use. Let Him convict and convince you of sin. Then ask God’s cleansing through Christ (I John 1:9) for victorious living. TIPPING Have you ever wondered just what is proper in the amount of tips which are supposed to be paid to bellboys? There seem to be many conflicting ideas on the subject. Actually, the word “tip" is an abbreviation for “to insure prompt ness." Someone has said it is the price one pays for being assured of special privileges in service. One group of em ployees which depends on gratuities, at least for a part of their salary, set the “ground rules” in saying, “Everyone must tip for unless he does the service is sure to be even worse the next time." Perhaps it would be better for employ ers to add the equivalent of the tip to the price of the meal, or whatever the com modity may be, passing the benefits along to the employee, thus doing away with the practice altogether. This should remind us that we never need to tip the Lord because of any fa vors He has done, or that we may wish Him to do on our behalf. Salvation is the free gift of God. There is not one tip we can add to it. Our whole-hearted desire should be in seeking to please the Lord, serving Him with hearts of grate ful love. This is not working for our sal vation but rather working it out. 8
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