sure did!’ Then she smiled and said, ‘Little Teddy, you just come right on in.’ ” He told his teacher about that three times that same day. You see, his own home was a place where his moth er didn’t want him around. She was afraid he might disturb things and make them a little disorderly. I ask you, “What is a home for, anyway?” I know a very fine Christian young man who has some very deep seated problems in his inner soul. Although his pattern of life is circumspect there are some scars on his psychological being. The background of his home was very fine with Godly parents. They, however, did not understand him. The home was a show place. The children had to play in the cellar or basement or go directly to their room. Woe betide them if they sat down in any other part of the house. There were covers over the furniture, cellophane still covered the lamps. Then, once every two weeks she unveiled them for a tea party so certain friends could come in and say, “My, what a wonder ful home you have; how beautiful, how clean it is.” This was all at the expense of her children. One of them grew up to totally repudiate the Gos pel. He said, “If this is the way one is supposed to live, I don’t want to have anything more to do with the church.” The other boy used to come to me with some of his deep loneliness. He felt a sense of rejection. Problems were cre ated for the lives involved. Does our home belong to the chil dren? What about play facilities? Is there the proper amount of space for it? A few years ago in the Saturday Evening Post there was a very striking picture. The first segment showed the father sitting in his chair reading, look ing down at his son. The boy had some milk cartons and blocks. He was chug ging away playing train. The next picture showed the father greatly dis tressed. He wanted his boy to have an expensive electric train. He immedi ately went down to the store and picked out the best he could find. The third cartoon showed the father down on the
floor playing with his little boy and the elaborate new train. The fourth picture was exactly the same as the first except that the electric train was in the comer with no fascination for the boy. He was engrossed in pushing the milk cartons and blocks once again. Children don’t need expensive toys, but they do need something. May our prayer be that God will guide us, giving discernment so that we may provide the things necessary for our children for good physical bodies to avoid all the habits of evil. May our homes be places where chil dren are loved, wanted, accepted and desired. Chapter Four L iterature in the home is one of the most valuable ways of guid ing our children into spiritual truth. It is difficult for a young man or for a young woman to keep pure in mind and thought with all kinds of evil literature around. While speaking in a certain college a young man came to me and said, “I’m deeply troubled. I have developed a habit of self abuse. The reason for it is that one day I went into my fa ther’s room. He didn’t know that his dresser was unlocked. I knew I shouldn’t, but I began snooping about. Here I found some of his lewd pictures and magazines. I began to read them and my mind was filled with all kinds of lust. I’ve never been able to get over this terrible self abuse. How do I mas ter it?” We talked of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, about cleanliness of thought, and about controlling the mind through the power of the Holy Spirit. The cleansing power of our Lord Jesus Christ can cover every sin, but the scars of the tragedy still re main. We ought to avoid bringing into our homes anything which would cause our children to have temptations in any manner. How many times do you find any- 6
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