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A Home God can Bless, February 12
For I know him, that he will command his children and his household
after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and
judgment.
Genesis 18:19
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In God’s sight, a man is just what he is in his family. The life of Abraham,
the friend of God, was signalized by a strict regard for the word of the Lord. He
cultivated home religion. The fear of God pervaded his household. He was the
priest of his home. He looked upon his family as a sacred trust. His household
numbered more than a thousand souls, and he directed them all, parents and
children, to the divine Sovereign. He suffered no parental oppression on the one
hand or filial disobedience on the other. By the combined influence of love and
justice, he ruled his household in the fear of God, and the Lord bore witness to
his faithfulness
He “will command ... his household.” There would be no sinful neglect
to restrain the evil propensities of his children, no weak, unwise, indulgent
favoritism, no yielding of his conviction of duty to the claims of mistaken
affection. Abraham would not only give right instruction, but he would maintain
the authority of just and righteous laws.
How few there are in our day who follow this example. On the part of too
many parents there is a blind and selfish sentimentalism, which is manifested
in leaving children with their unformed judgment and undisciplined passions,
to the control of their own will. This is the worst cruelty to the youth and a
great wrong to the world. Parental indulgence causes disorder in families and
in society. It confirms in the young the desire to follow inclination, instead of
submitting to the divine requirements
Parents and children alike belong to God to be ruled by Him. By affection
and authority combined, Abraham ruled his house. God’s word has given us
rules for our guidance. These rules form the standard from which we cannot
swerve if we would keep the way of the Lord. God’s will must be paramount.
The question for us to ask is not: What have others done? What will my relatives
think? or, What will they say of me if I pursue this course? but, What has God
said? Neither parent nor child can truly prosper in any course excepting in the
way of the Lord
[50]
26
Letter 144, 1902
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27
Manuscript 22, 1904
.
28
Testimonies for the Church 5:548
.
49