Religion in the Home Part 5

THE HOME IS SUPPOSED TO TEACH RELIGION

But it is not enough that the home should teach only discipline and ideals. If it goes no farther, it has still not fulfilled its divine mission. There are many parents today that are doing a very good job of teaching discipline and ideals, but they are failing miserably when it comes to teaching religion to their children. The truth of the matter is this: some parents seem to feel that their children are animals to be fed and clothed, and intellectual creatures to be educated. These same parents seem to have no burden or concern about the soul needs of their children. I have seen many parents that were greatly concerned about the physical well-being of their children. If the child was sick, they were worried. They were perfectly willing to sacrifice and slave for the physical needs of the child, but they seemed to be utterly unconcerned about his spiritual well-being. I have seen fathers and mothers that would make all kinds of sacrifices to send their children to school and to college, but did not turn their hands to try and win their children for Christ. I have seen mothers that would wear the same old dress and hat for several seasons so that their child could go to college and be dressed well, but they did not seem to be the least bit concerned over the fact that the same child was not a Christian. However, we need to see that our children are more than animals to be fed. They are more than intellectual creatures to be educated. Our children are spiritual beings. They have souls that need to be saved. It would be far better for them to be sick in body and have soul health, than for them to be physical giants and yet be dwarfed and sick in soul. Yes, it would be far better for our children never to see the inside of a college and yet to know Jesus Christ (whom to know aright is life eternal) than for them to graduate from college with the highest honors and still lose their souls, or have their lives wrecked and blighted by sin. There are thousands of fine young men that have gone into the armed service of this nation that will never come back home again. Many of them have already died on the battlefield, and still others will die before this awful war is over. Many of those boys went to college and their parents rejoiced in the fine grades they made. No doubt those parents dreamed of the place those sons would occupy in the social and business world, but those dreams will never come true now. Those boys have died for their country. I want to say to you that when you receive that notice from the government, saying that your son has been killed in action, then you will prize the knowledge that he. was a Christian and died in the faith, more than all the diplomas and medals that may have been awarded to him either by the schools or the government. To know that he is safe in heaven and that some day you will meet him there, will be the most precious thing in all the world to you. What shall it profit a father, if he makes his millions of dollars, and yet loses his own son or daughter to sin and Satan? What shall it profit a mother, if she is the most popular woman in the town, winning the high bridge prizes, and yet loses her own children to shame and eternal disgrace? There are many things of this world that people are greatly concerned about, but all of them look mighty small in comparison with the value of the soul of your own child. We can well afford to miss some things and make some sacrifices, if we can only help our children into a vital Christian experience. When we are facing death and the judgment, many of the things that people have giventheir time and attention to will look mighty little, in comparison with the fact that their children have been lost and will be banished into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. It behooves us to look after the spiritual welfare of our children and see that they are given some religious teaching and training. Any sacrifice we may have to make in order to win our own children to Christ will not be too great for the dividends it will pay in soul-peace and satisfaction.

Sometime ago I held a meeting in a small city, and one day the pastor and I were driving down through the best residential section. As we drove along we passed a big mansion. It was the finest house in that city. The pastor turned to me and said, "Brother Church, the man that lives in that house is the richest man in this county. They claim he is worth over three million dollars. Many people look upon him as a great success, but to my mind he is the most miserable failure that I have ever seen in all my life. That man has six children, three sons and three daughters. One of those daughters is a harlot in a red-light district of Chicago. At least, she was there the last time they heard from her. They read in the paper where a 'bawdy' house had been raided and their daughter was one of the women taken in the raid. Another one of those daughters left this town with another woman's husband, and has never been heard from since. The third daughter in that home is now dying of venereal disease." (And she did die while I was there in that meeting). He continued, "All three of that man's sons are drunkards and two of them are dope fiends." Think of it! A man worth three million dollars, and yet his whole family of children wrecked and blighted by sin! What satisfaction can three million dollars bring to a man when his own flesh and blood are lost in sin? When that man is dead and gone, what good will three million dollars do those children when their lives are already cursed and blighted by sin? His money will only be the means of sending them deeper into shame.

Friends, we may not be able to leave our children a great deal of this world's goods, but we can at least give them the advantage of a Christian home and Christian training. You may never be able to send your child to college, but you can at least give him the privilege of having a Christian mother and father. There may be many other things you will not be able to give your child, but you can leave him the heritage of a Christian home and a vital Christian experience. And when you have passed on to your eternal reward they will prize that more highly than stocks and bonds. The world may rob them of their wealth, but nothing can take their spiritual heritage from them.

While I was still in the pastorate, I served one church in the mountain section. While I was there the people told me about a family that used to live just across the mountain in another county from where I lived. The father and mother in this home were poor people with a large family of children. However, they were very devout, consecrated Christian parents. When the first World War came on, their two oldest sons went into the army. They went across to France and stayed until the war was over. But while these boys were in France, both parents died. The other children married and left home. The old mountain farm was left to grow up in weeds and briars. When the two sons were released from the army, they decided they did not want to go back to the old home place. One of them got a job in New York City and the other one drifted across the nation, finally landing in California, and there spent several years. These two boys kept writing to each other and finally they agreed they would take their vacation at the same time. They decided to meet in Asheville, N. C., and go out to the old home community and visit their relatives and friends. They met, and caught the train that bore them out to the old home community. Some of their relatives met them at the station, and they spent several days visiting among their relatives and friends. They finally decided they would make one final visit to the old home place. So they got in their car the next morning and drove as far up into the mountains as they could drive. When the road became impassable, they got out and walked the rest of the way. They passed the old swimming hole, where they had gone in swimmingas boys. As they stood there, they talked of the good times they had as boys around that old swimming hole. As they walked up toward the old log cabin in the head of the cove, they reminded each other of incidents that had taken place many years before. They were having a good time living over again in their memory the days of their childhood. Then they came to the house where they had been born and had grown up. The yard was grown up with weeds and briars. The window lights were all broken out, the door had given way and was sagging toward the ground. Everything was looking dilapidated and forsaken. Yet it was a precious place to them, for it was HOME; and after all, "Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home." For sometime they stood there, and neither one offered to go into the house. Finally, one of them opened the door and walked in. As he stood there in the door he pointed to a little ladder that went from the first floor into a little attic-like place under the roof. As he pointed to the ladder he turned to his brother and said, "Do you remember the ladder? Do you remember how we used to pull off our shoes and stockings down by the fire and get our feet good and warm and then race to see, who could get in the bed first upstairs?" His brother said, "Yes, I remember. And do you remember what good times we used to have scuffling and playing after we did get into bed? Do you remember how 'Paw' used to have to yell and threaten to come up and whip us if we did not get quiet?"

Then they both walked across the room and stood by the old hearthstone. It was a crude, rough chimney built out of some rock that had been gathered out of the fields and daubed together with lime and mud. The hearthstone was a big flat stone that had been brought in out of the field and laid down for this purpose. It was all a very crude affair, and yet to these boys it was a very hallowed and sacred spot. This had once been the center of the world to them. They had learned to crawl around that old hearthstone. They had taken their first toddling steps here. In fact, everything that life meant to them had once centered around this spot. As they stood there both of them were deeply moved with emotions as they thought of the precious days of the past. One of them finally pointed to a hole in the chimney, where a rock had been left out, and turning to his brother, said, "Do you remember that place? That is where 'Ma' used to keep her Bible and her specks. I can almost see her now as she sits there by the window with the sun streaming over her shoulder, her Bible open in her lap and the tears running down her cheeks. She was a wonderful mother! No boys ever had a better mother than we had." The other boy, with a choke in his voice and with tears in his eyes, said, "Yes, I remember that. Do you remember this place right here? Here is where 'Paw' used to kneel when we had family prayer. I can see him now with his head thrown back and his face lifted toward Heaven. I can almost hear his voice as he calls on God in prayer. I can almost hear him call our names and tell God all about us, and ask God to help us be the kind of children we ought to be. You know 'Paw' and 'Ma' prayed enough for us to have saved the world." They were both deeply moved by this time. Now, one said to the other, "You know, I wish I was a Christian like 'Ma' and 'Paw."' The other said, "I wish I was too, and some of these days I am going to become a Christian and serve God like they did. When I was in the trenches in France I promised God that if He would let me live and get back home, I would become a Christian. But I got busy, and never have done anything about it. I tell you what let's do. Let's get down here right now, where 'Ma' and 'Paw' used to pray and let's give our hearts and lives to God."They both knelt there in the dust, surrounded by dirt and cob-webs, but also surrounded by the influence and prayers of a godly father and mother, and gave their hearts to God. Truly, there may be many things that we can never give to our children. We may be too poor to give them many of the advantages that other parents give to their children, but no matter how poor we may be we can at least give them a Christian home, and the privilege of having Christian training. Surely, we can do that. None of us ought to be satisfied to do less than that; and after all, that is therichest inheritance that any of us can leave to our children. lf we do that, they will rise up to call us blessed. May God help us not to fall our children.