p. 12 | Our Most Important Work as Parents

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 25, 1907

Our Most Important Work as Parents

PARENTS, for Christ’s sake do not blunder in your most important work, that of molding the characters of your children for time and for eternity. . . . You determine for them what they will be, and what they will do for Christ, for men, and for their own souls.—“Testimonies for the Church,” No. 31, pages 35, 36.

Light has been shining from the Word of God and the Testimonies of his Spirit, so that none need err in regard to their duty. God requires parents to bring up their children to know him and to respect his claims. . . . By neglecting their duty, and indulging their children in wrong, parents close to them the gates of heaven.—Id., No. 32, pages 81, 82.

Many are going directly contrary to the light which God has given to his people because they do not read the books which contain the light and knowledge, in cautions, reproofs, and warnings. . . . The volumes of “Spirit of Prophecy,” and also the Testimonies, should be introduced into every Sabbath-keeping family, and the brethren should know their value, and be urged to read them.—Id., Vol. 35, page 209.

Many parents do not themselves seek instruction from the Testimonies, and of course they can not impart it to their children.—Id., No. 31, page 57.

The Bible gives explicit directions concerning the important work of educating children. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” The parents themselves are to be connected with God; they are to have his fear before them, and to have a knowledge of his will. Then comes their work: “And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” . . . Here the duties of parents are clearly set forth. The Word of God is to be their daily monitor. It gives such instruction that parents need not err in regard to the education of their children, but it admits of no indifference or negligence. The law of God is to be kept before the minds of the children as the great moral standard. . . . and its principles are to be interwoven with all their experience.—Id., No. 32, pages 84-86.

The directions that Moses gave concerning the passover feast are full of significance, and have an application to parents and children in this age of the world. “Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.” The father was to act as the priest of the household, and if the father was dead, the eldest son living was to perform this solemn act of sprinkling the door-posts with blood. This is a symbol of the work to be done in every family. Parents are to gather their children into the home, and to present Christ before them as their passover. The father is to dedicate every inmate of his home to God, and to do a work that is represented by the feast of the passover. It is perilous to leave this solemn duty in the hands of others. This peril is well illustrated by an incident that is related concerning a Hebrew family on the night of the passover. The legend goes that the eldest daughter was sick; but that she was acquainted with the fact that a lamb was to be chosen for every family, and that its blood was to be sprinkled upon the lintel and side posts of the door, so that the Lord might behold the mark of the blood, and not suffer the destroyer to enter in to smite the first-born. With what anxiety she saw the evening approach when the destroying angel was to pass by. She became very restless. She called her father to her side and asked, “Have you marked the door-posts with blood?” He answered, “Yes, I have given directions in regard to the matter. Do not be troubled; for the destroying angel will not enter here.” The night came on, and again and again the child called her father, still asking, “Are you sure that the door-post is marked with blood?” Again and again the father assured her that she need have no fear; that a command which involved such consequences would not be neglected by his trustworthy servants. As midnight approached, her pleading voice was heard saying, “Father, I am not sure. Take me in your arms, and let me see the mark for myself, so that I can rest.” The father conceded to the wishes of his child: he took her in his arms, and carried her to the door; but there was no blood mark upon the lintel or the posts. He trembled with horror as he realized that his home might have become a house of mourning. With his own hands he seized the hyssop bough and sprinkled the door-posts with blood. He then showed the sick child that the mark was there. Are parents placing the mark of God upon their households, in this their day of probation and privilege? Are not many fathers and mothers placing their responsibilities into others’ hands? Do not many of them think that the minister should take the burden, and see to it that their children are converted, and that the seal of God is placed upon them?

. . . Fathers and mothers place their responsibility in the hands of others, and thus perilously neglect their own households.—Review and Herald, Vol. 72, No. 21.

“Parents, for Christ’s sake do not blunder in your most important work.”

Our Most Important Work as Parents*

Our Most Important Work as Parents