Know Your Bible

VOL. 10 January 22, 2012 NO. 52

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To Parents

Most of us who are parents have at times no doubt felt that the job of rearing children would not have been so great if we had lived fifty or a hundred years ago. We feel a great sense of anxiety regarding the problems that prevail in our permissive society. Yet there are some very real principles that never change. From generation to generation they are the same. Let’s consider a few things that we need to try to be and do as parents today.

1. We need to try to make our homes a place of peace and security for our children. Our home life together should cause our children to want to come home. . They should know that we want them to be at home and we want home to be a happy contrast to the vicious world of sin outside.

2. We should try to have one parent at home all the time when our children are there, and two parents there as much as possible. A house without a parent in it is not a good home for children, and a house where the children see only one parent at a time for five days and nights a week is far from being the best home for our children.

3. We should try to accept no employment at would prevent us from having a close association with our children. It would be better to live in a humble cottage and be a real parent to your children than to live in a beautiful mansion and fail our family.

4. We should try to provide the best possible associations for our children. We should teach them to choose wisely among the children at school and in the neighborhood. We should try to have them be with other children from the faithful families in the church. We should even try to have them know such children from other congregations and make it so that they might have opportunity to engage in some form of recreation with them. We should especially guide them to choose educational opportunities that would help and not hinder their moral and spiritual development. Our children should be taught by word and example that a job is not the all important thing in life but rather, everything should revolve around God and His word.

5. We should try to train our children so that we never have to require them to attend services of the church. They would go because they wanted to do so. We should remember that it will be easier on them and us if they willingly attend. If we are successful at instilling this attitude in them, they will be at ALL the services by their own choice and not because of force or threat for that will only be sufficient to get them to come once a week.

6. We should try to train them to so behave during services that both parents and children could be happy there. This means that young mothers should not allow other mothers, grandmothers, or other children or teenagers to play with their babies before services. Such activity only stirs up the little infant and produces trouble for the mother during services. If you play with a baby before services, how is the baby to know when services begin and playtime is over?

As parents, we should not be taken in by the tricks our older children sometime play on us; like having to go to the restroom at least once during every service. Unless our child is sick or has some sort of kidney or bladder problem, they should have no trouble toing for an hour or an hour and fifteen minutes without using the restroom. As parents we need to insist on this. If they must go, let’s teach them to do it as quietly as possible. Nothing is more disturbing than running, loud walking, doors shutting, commode lids banging, and commodes flushing after the bathroom door has been opened. All of these noises can be eliminated if we train our children to give proper attention to these matters before services begin.

7. We should try to take our religion home with us. In other words, what would be better than to gather our family together and sing, pray, and study our Bible at home, too? Let us try hard to demonstrate the same character at home that we do at the services of the church.

All of the items that have been mentioned in this article will not constitute us as a good and successful parent, but they will help. If each of us does our part, God will give us wisdom to be and to do what He wants. As parents, let us not forget to pray for God’s help that we may always do and say those things that will make our children what they ought to be. May God help us as parents.

From KNOW YOUR BIBLE, August 5, 1990

---E.R. Hall, Jr.

Page 1

From Parent To Child

I gave you life, but I cannot live it for you.

I can teach you things, but I cannot learn for you.

I can give you directions, but I cannot always be there to lead you.

I can teach you the gospel, but I cannot believe for you.

I can teach you right from wrong, but I cannot always decide for you.

I can buy you beautiful clothes, but I can’t make you beautiful inside.

I can offer you advice, but I cannot accept it for you.

I can give you love, but I cannot force it upon you.

I can teach you to share, but I cannot make you unselfish.

I can teach you respect, but it is you that show honor.

I can advise you about your friends, but I cannot choose them for you.

I can advise you about sex, but you must keep yourself pure.

I can tell you about the facts of life, but I can’t build your reputation.

I can tell you about alcohol and drugs, but I can’t say NO for you.

I can warn you about sin, but I cannot do your morals for you.

I can love you as a child, but I cannot place you in God’s family.

I can pray for you, but I cannot make you walk with God.

I can tell you how to live, but I cannot give you eternal life.

---Selected

Page 2

ROBBING GOD

A Chinese preacher, speaking of robbing God, used this illustration: “It came to pass that a man went to market with a string of seven coins, and after seeing a beggar in great need who asked for alms, gave him six of the seven, keeping only one for himself. Instead of being grateful, the beggar followed the good man and stole the seventh coin also!”

What an abominable wretch! Imagine how vile and selfish must be the heart of such a person!

Yes, but would you, to whom God has given six days, steal the other also? Where do you plan to be next Lord’s day?

---Selected

Page 3

Know Your Bible" is e-mailed weekly by the church of Christ which meets at 112 Roberts Avenue in Wise, Virginia. If you know of others who might benefit from the articles contained in this bulletin, we would be glad to have you submit their e-mail addresses and we will include them in next week's mailing. If you are receiving this bulletin and do not wish to continue to do so, please e-mail us with your desire to be removed from the mailing list and we will remove your address promptly. Continue to the bottom of this page and further instructions will be given as to how you may contact us.

--- E.R. Hall, Jr.

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Sunday

Bible Classes ……….....….…............ 10:00 AM

Morning Worship ……..…….….…...... 11:00 AM

Evening Worship …………...……........ 6:00 PM

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