The Home Influence by B. C.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 22, 1912

The Home Influence

By B. C.

B. C.

The Lord has said, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” Isa. 60: 1. Surely the time has come when God would have us arise and shine. He would have us make straight paths for our feet, lest when we come up to the judgment, we shall be condemned.

What is our every-day home life? Is it such as God can approve? Is it always sweet and loving, kind and gentle, like that of our Saviour, under all circumstances? Are we never provoked to anger, or do we sometimes show a hasty spirit? “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it can not save; neither his ear heavy, that it can not hear.”

God requires us to surrender all to him, our hasty tempers, our pride, everything that will drive away the Holy Spirit from our homes. Think of the influence of hasty words or unkind looks upon our children. We of all people desire our children to walk uprightly before God. Parents, mothers especially, are the children’s pattern. If the children do not hear and see divine thought and action in their pattern, how can they be expected to lead righteous lives? If every mother who wills to take her little ones through to the kingdom would take notice of the very small deeds of her children, and would pray, correct, punish if need be to bend the young twig in the right way, there would not be the great number of wayward children that we see to-day, thinking only of self and the pleasures of this world.

The time to begin to train children is when they are very small. The Lord says: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” If we take a part of God’s Word, we must take it all. Our home is the only place in which the work of training can be accomplished. We need to be more thoughtful of our home influence, of our influence upon our companion, upon our children, upon brother and sister, upon all who may be in our home; and our influence not only reaches the one in the home, but it is felt among our neighbors throughout the community.

Mount Vernon, Ohio.