I was touched by the fact that when you had travelled over 2,000 miles to see him graduate from col lege he didn’t even notice you. Parents do not ask to be repaid for their efforts — nor can they be. But they do look for at least a measure of appreciation from their children. And of course your son has given you none. Undoubtedly your boy’s problem is this: he is an educated unregenerate. He has never confessed Christ as his Saviour and he has never been bom again. In other words, he still is con trolled by his old original, adamic, selfish nature. The solution to your boy’s problem is to be born again. When this takes place he will have a new nature — a godly nature, an appreciative na ture. The Bible tells us, “ In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” But of course such Scripture is not intend ed for the unsaved. It is directed to ward those of us who know Christ as our personal Saviour and are in dwelt by the Holy Spirit. You say that your son is trying to play the part of a big shot and that he tries to impress people and show off to them. After he surrenders his life to Christ his theme will be, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” The important thing for you to do is to pray that God will convict him of his sin, and that he will come to know Christ as his Saviour. After that — as he begins to grow in the Lord he will become unselfish and he will reach out to others instead of think ing about himself. Your letter contains a lesson for all of us. Instead of sending our sons and daughters to godless colleges and universities, we should see that they go to fine Bible institutes and Chris tian colleges where they can learn
about Jesus and grow in Him. In such institutions they will be inspired by other Christian young people and they will be taught by devoted faculty members. After four years of such growth we can expect our young peo ple to be much more Christ-like and to develop into mature, thoughtful adults who are controlled hv the Holy Spirit. DANC ING Q. M y 15-year-old daughter has a Sunday School teacher who has been taking the class to dances. / spoke to the teacher about it but she still continues. On one occasion she did it without notifying us. She arranged some sort of meeting and later the dance. I went to the pastor about it but he refused an answer. The second time I spoke to him about it, before l told him the story, he reminded me, “ not to hold grudges.” The pastor isn’t very spiritual. The church is of a denomination that disapproves dancing. This partic ular church only a few years ago was real warm spiritually but has lost the zeal it once had. A. What a tragedy! A Sunday school teacher has one of the most important jobs in all the world. She often has within her power to mould a life to honor Christ. But evidently the woman you speak of is leading young people into sin! Such teachers should be removed from their responsibilities. Better still, should should not have beer; given the class in the first place. Sunday schools would do well to know their teachers, and to ask them to fill out a form about their conse cration, including their stand on sep aration. Life is short, eternity is near, and we should do all we can to lead young people into paths of righteous ness, not the dance hall. THE KING'S BUSINESS
SELFISH SON Q. Our son has always been good, never getting into any trouble. But he has a very bad habit of being selfish. Now as a young married man he ig nores his w ife when others are around. When he graduated from college, we drove 2,000 miles to see him grad uate, and then he ignored us prac tically the whole time we were there. He hadn’t seen us for a year. He thinks only of himself. He doesn’t seem to care whom he hurts. Now that he is married and has a small daughter, he is doing the sam e thing to his wife. They get along quite well in regard to handling mon ey and in other ways, but whenever anyone else is present, he bosses her around and completely ignores her, just as he has always done to us. He tries to impress other people by playing the big shot and showing off. He is very intelligent, but has always shown little respect for women. He treats his sister like dirt. He has nev er shown any affection to me, and 1 don’t think he has ever told me he loved me. Please, Dr. Narramore, help me. Any help you can give w ill be great ly appreciated and might help make his life and his wife’s life much hap pier. A. One of the greatest disappointments that can come to a parent is to see his son or daughter grow up to be an unappreciative adult. I can un derstand how your heart must be broken as you think back to the time when you gave birth to this boy and of the many nights that you stayed up with him while he was ill. And now he’s ungrateful. Undoubtedly, you did your best for him — it all seems in vain. 30 Sincerely, Mrs. D. E.
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