Living In The Light

November 21, A Solemn Appeal To Parents

And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.
—Ephesians 6:4 LL 342.1

Fathers and mothers, be the educators of your children. Converse with them upon religious things. Teach them the Word of God. Cultivate a sweet disposition. Then there need be spoken no words of anger or scolding or fretting. If your children disobey you, take them alone and talk with them. Show them that they have grieved the Spirit of Christ. Tell them that whenever they give way to temper, the sweet Spirit of the Lord is not talking to their hearts. Teach them that Christ gave His life that they might learn to yield to His Spirit and come into union with God. Then whether they live or die, in the changing circumstances of life, or if called into the valley of the shadow of death, their love for Christ and His love for them will sustain them. Their hope will be steadfast and the confidence will be unshaken. Happy is that soul who in the hour of death finds his faith strong in the assurance of a glad resurrection, when, awaking at the voice of the Life giver, he shall see the Savior as He is. My brethren and sisters, let us make Christ first and last, our hope for this life, and our blessed reality in the life to come. LL 342.2

Do you want to take your children with you to the kingdom of God? Do you want them to stand uncondemned in the judgment, saved from their sins through faith in Christ? Then labor that they may be converted right in the home. Pray with them; teach them the requirements of the Word of God. This is the best thing you can do for them. It is far better than to try to please them by giving them their own way; for there will come a day when they cannot have their own way. LL 342.3

Have your children put on the robe of Christ’s righteousness? Do they love God? If they do not, labor for them until they know by personal experience the joys of being children of God. Do not leave them to perish without the camp. Lead them to make their peace with God and to give their hearts to Him. This is your business, your chief business. Do not be satisfied with the prayers you offer for them at the family circle, but do personal, individual work for them until you are assured that they have made their peace with God, that His approval rests upon them, and that the light of heaven is revealed in their lives.—Manuscript 25, 1911. LL 342.4

Further Reflection: : What encouragement would you give to parents whose child has gone astray? How can they find hope and peace as they labor for their child’s salvation? LL 342.5