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Christian Discipline
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worth nothing unless united with the discipline that God has said
should be maintained. Students come to school to be disciplined for
service, trained to make the best use of their powers. If on coming
they resolve to co-operate with their teachers, their study will be
worth much more to them than if they give up to the inclination to
be rebellious and lawless. Let them give the teachers their sympathy
and co-operation. Let them take firm hold of the arm of divine power,
determining not to turn aside from the path of duty. Let them harness
their wrong habits and exert all their influence on the right side. Let
them remember that the success of the school depends upon their
consecration and sanctification, upon the holy influence they feel
bound to exert. Let them set their mark high and be determined to
reach it. When asked to go contrary to the rules of the school, let
them answer with a decided No.
The Teacher’s Part
And every teacher has his own wrong traits of character to watch
lest the enemy use him as an agent to destroy souls. The teacher’s
safety lies in learning daily in the school of Christ. He who learns
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in this school will hide self in Jesus and will remember that as he
deals with his students he is dealing with a blood-bought heritage.
In this school he will learn to be patient, humble, generous, noble.
The molding hand of God will bring out in the character the divine
image.
Let Christ’s methods be followed in dealing with those who make
mistakes. Unwise actions, the manifestation of undue severity on the
part of the teacher, may thrust a student upon Satan’s battleground.
Prodigals have been kept out of the kingdom of God by the un-
Christlikeness of those who claimed to be Christians. “Whoso shall
offend one of these little ones which believe in Me,” Christ said, “it
were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and
that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”
Matthew 18:6
. It were
better not to live than to exist day by day devoid of that love which
Christ has enjoined upon His children.
A Christlike nature is not selfish, unsympathetic, cold. It enters
into the feelings of those who are tempted and helps the one who
has fallen to make the trial a stepping-stone to higher things. The