8. Don't protect me from consequences. I need to learn the painful way sometimes. 9. Don't take too much notice of my small ailments. Sometimes they get me the attention I need. 10. Don't nag. If you do I shall have to protect myself by appear ing deaf. 11. Don't make rash promises. Remember that I feel badly let down when promises are broken. 12. Don't forget that I cannot explain myself as well as I should like. That is why I am not always very accurate. 13. Don't tax my honesty too much. I am easily frightened into telling lies. 14. Don't be inconsistent. That completely confuses me and makes me lose faith in you. 15. Don't put me off when I ask questions. If you do you will find that I stop asking and seek my information elsewhere. 16. Don't tell me my fears are silly. They are terribly real and you can do much to reassure me if you try to understand. 17. Don't ever suggest that you are perfect or infallible. It gives me too great a shock when I discover that you are neither. 18. Don't ever think that it is beneath your dignity to apologize to me. An honest apology makes me feel surprisingly warm toward you. 19. Don't forget I love experimenting, I couldn't get on without it, so please put up with it. 20. Don't forget how quickly I am growing up. It must be very difficult for you to keep pace with me, but please do try. 21. Don't forget that I can't thrive without lots of understanding love, but I don't need to tell you that, do I? — E. Mildred Nevill
1. Don't spoil me. I know quite well that I ought not to have all I ask for. I'm only testing you. 2. Don't be afraid to be firm with me. I prefer it. It makes me feel more secure. 3. Don't let me form bad habits. I have to rely on you to detect them in the early stages. 4. Don't make me feel smaller than 1 am. It only makes me behave stupidly "big." 5. Don't correct me in front of people if you can help it. I'll take much more notice if you talk quietly with me in private. 6. Don't make me feel that my mistakes are sins. It upsets my sense of values. 7. Don't be too upset when I say "I hate you." It isn't you I hate but your power to thwart me. EDITOR'S NOTE: No matter the country, the temptations of Satan are the same. This article recently appeared in the "African Challenge", published by the Sudan Interior Mission. May it bring conviction to hearts in this land as well.
Flee This Sin!
A w a v e of sexual immorality is in creasingly claiming the hearts of a vast number of our young people, so much that pre-marital intercourse is almost regarded as a mark of “ Civ ilization.” Appealing to the animal nature of our youths is the com mercialized display of partial nudity of women in some magazines and films. Admittedly, sexual desires is in herent in man. But sex union is a sublime act ordained by God for the reproduction of children and for the deepening of love between husband and wife. Sexual intercourse outside the marriage tie is sinful. Quite apart from the fact that illicit sexual intercourse only provides a momentary expensive pleasure, un told are its disastrous effects on the individual involved and on the na tion. Our society swells with illegiti mate children. Young girls fall into teen-age prostitution; school boys be come fathers. Those who allow sex instinct to rule them, running after members of the opposite sex, are at the mercy of venereal diseases. If every young man and woman realized the danger of sexual im morality and guarded against it, we would have fewer teachers, nurses, and students either at home or abroad whose careers suddenly end by what they often describe as “ a mistake.” What a costly and character-destroy-
warned against relationships before marriage; they should also be given practical help to guide them in times of temptation throughout life. It is an established law of life that thoughts come before actions. Sexual temp tations find their main entry through the mind. It is from a poisoned imagi nation that impure thoughts arise. Parents, then, must protect the thought life of their children from impurity. “Whatsover things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things,” parents should constantly remind their children (Philippians 4:8). Parents should encourage their children to read the Bible and other wholesome Christian literature and to take phy sical exercise to help keep their minds and bodies healthy. Any genuine effort on the part of the parents to prepare children against sexual temptation will fail without the co-operation of our young people. We appeal therefore to youth to cul tivate self-discipline through the power of Christ in their lives. “Mor tify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, un cleanness . . . ” (Colossians 3:5). “ Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof” (Romans 6:12).
ing mistake this becomes! “ Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body” (1 Corinthians 6:18). Many boys and girls of high ideals and strong character have fal len into sin simply because they did not run away from fornication. What they considered harmless play landed them where passion took control, and they sinned. It is not enough for parents to de cry the evil of sexual corruption when their sons or daughters fall into trouble. What value is there if parents and guardians place temptation in the way of their adolescents in the form of filthy conversation, immoral music and literature, ballroom danc ing, going to the movies, and hav ing more than one wife or husband. It is necessary for parents to set a good example and to take the initiative in teaching their children about the facts of sex in purity. If marriage is to be honourable, our young people must have under standing advice from their parents or guardians upon reaching the age of puberty. There is no substitute for home training in facing sex trouble. The dignity of womanhood can be safeguarded better if mothers give adequate instructions solemnly to their daughters. Not only should our youths be
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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