THE WEAKER VESSEL AND ITS IMPORTANT SPHERE
By Chas. T. Eversen
CHAS. T. EVERSEN
(Millville, Cal.) THE strength of a vessel does not necessarily determine its usefulness or its value. The most costly and oftentimes the most useful vessels are those that are delicate and easily broken. Because woman is spoken of as the weaker vessel, many have been inclined to disparage her position and responsibilities. But from a careful and unbiased study of the subject, it will not be difficult to see that God has committed to women the most exalted and important of all work. The recognition that comes to any one in the sphere of literature, politics, science, or art is generally evanescent. Almost any achievement in this world is ephemeral. But who can determine the influence exerted by the lives of those children who, through a mother’s patient care, have attained characters modeled after the divine pattern? And again, the influence of such characters upon their children, and they in turn, upon their children, is inestimable. Such work not only continues to exert an ever-widening influence in this world, but its results will be seen through ceaseless ages of eternity. That mother makes a great mistake who thinks that any calling is more important than the proper training of her children. Whenever a great man is asked the secret of his success, he invariably points to his mother’s influence and training as the most potent factor in making him what he is. But many mothers have endeavored to free themselves from their God-appointed work, thinking that other work is of a more exalted nature. And the results are evident to every one. The little ark of bulrushes floating on the placid waters of the river Nile contained God’s answer to the moans and cries for deliverance that had been rising from the Israelitish people for nearly four hundred years. Yet what would the life of Moses have attained without the influence of his mother? His life and influence would have been buried in Egyptian darkness, never to be heard of in the pages of history, if his mother had deserted him or failed to do her duty. As he lay in his floating cradle, what did he know of the truth of God or His teachings? He was too young to know anything about the God of Israel. Yet from that basket he was taken and carried right into the palace of the king of Egypt, where heathenism reigned supreme. There is a growing sentiment that children are a burden, and anything that will arrest their attention, and keep them from “bothering” the mother is hailed with delight. Mothers will leave their children with strangers, without stopping to notice the surrounding influences, to go out for pleasure and amusement. But how different was the devotion of the mother of Moses to her child! She was willing to leave her home, hire herself out to the king’s daughter, and spend her life in the interests of her child. And although Moses was surrounded with the darkness of heathenism, with all its baneful influence, yet in the midst of it all his mother was able to teach her child so successfully that he stood firm for the truth of God in spite of it. In all the palace, his mother was the only influence to keep him in the right way. Although alone, yet by God’s help she patiently and persistently taught Moses the truth, and by it crowded out the error. We read that he, when “come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.” So thoroughly and successfully had his mother done her work, that amid all the trials and temptations of Egyptian darkness, and the trying ordeals of his later career, Moses remained loyal to his God. “Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Is the training of our children rendering them proof against temptation? When they “come to years,” do the positions and allurements of the world mean more to them than the reproach that comes from uniting their interests with God’s peculiar people? Will they refuse to accept a position that involves laboring on the Sabbath, however remunerative and desirable such a position may be? Moses was offered the highest position that was attainable in his day. Over against this position, it was his privilege to unite his interests with a band of unthankful and unappreciative slaves. On the one hand, the world offered him the inducement of sitting upon the throne of Egypt, ruling over the greatest nation in existence, surrounded with all the grandeur that such a position would naturally involve. On the other hand, God called him to unite his interests with a despised nation of slaves. What choice would we make? I expect we should say that we would do as Moses did. But do we do so in minor matters? When God asks us to sacrifice anything for Him in our humble sphere, are we willing and ready to do it? And if we can not sacrifice a small matter for Him, would we give up a throne for God? Moses had learned the lesson of implicit trust and obedience so thoroughly that he preferred to place his interests where God’s interests were. Are the children of Adventists growing up with such strength of character that they will be capable of making the decision that Moses made? Who knows the possibilities bound up in the children in our homes? Are we willing to spend our life in the interests of our children? Who knows but that your child may be a Moses to lead the people of God on to victory in the final great struggle? We are journeying to the heavenly Canaan, and are beset with greater temptations than were those traveling toward the earthly Canaan. Even if you can not make a Moses out of your child, will not your labor for him be well spent if you can make a humble worker for Christ out of him? The saving of your child for the kingdom will pay you over and over again for all your prayerful endeavors.