The Word of God Is a Light — Light Can Do Us No Good if We Close Our Eyes to It — Store the Minds of the Children with the Blessed Words
By MARY ALICE HARE LOPER, M. S.
“THY word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” A lamp is of no service to the individual who closes his eyes to the light. He gropes in darkness just as if there were no light near him. The Bible can never illuminate the path of him who willfully obscures its light. There is something wrong with the religion of that individual who is not willing to receive and appropriate every ray of light that shines from the word of God.
If I am practicing something that is not in harmony with the Bible, and I refuse to study the Bible, for fear I may become convinced of that fact, I am surely closing my eyes to truth, and permitting prejudice to hold sway in my life.
The world has had its Luthers and its Wesleys because of honest Bible study. The one who truly loves the Bible is happy to investigate its truth. He is anxious to have his life in conformity with every right principle, no matter what the cost may be. As his own errors and mistakes become apparent to him, he cheerfully “ceases to do evil” and “learns to do well.” But blind prejudice as surely prevents spiritual growth, as poisonous cigarettes prevent physical and mental development.
Teach Them to Believe the Bible
Even little children may become prejudiced in their ideas concerning Bible truth. A wee child, speaking of something she evidently had been taught not to believe, said to her mother, “If we found that in the Bible, we would tear it out, wouldn’t we, mama?” Children should be taught that whatever is found in the Bible is truth, and that if one discovers some truth there which he had not seen before, he ought to accept it cheerfully. On the other hand, one should have respect and charity for those who conscientiously differ with him in matters of faith, and under no circumstances give room to prejudice.
Proper instruction by parents in Bible principles is of inestimable value to every child. Moses withstood all the temptations to inherit the throne of Egypt, because of the faithful instruction of his godly mother. Milton has beautifully said, “The childhood shows the man as morning shows the day.” It pays to cherish hourly in the home the blessed principles of God’s holy word. Life is not worth living without this. But no one except Him who knows all about it, can estimate the value, to the world, of one life lived in harmony with God. Its blessed results will measure with eternity.
That man who is the priest of his household, as was Abraham of old, will not set an example that will be dangerous for his children to follow. He will not talk temperance when he goes to church, and then vote “wet” when he goes to the polls. He will live the life that he recommends to others. He who is true to himself and true to God, lives for the good of humanity. His kindness flows out in living streams to thirsty souls, and his highest position of honor is found in hiding behind the cross of Christ. Self is lost to sight, while Christ and His blessed word are magnified before the world.
“Give me the Bible, holy message shining,
The light shall guide me in the narrow way,
Precept and promise, law and love combining,
Till night shall vanish in eternal day.”
The American home is sadly neglected to-day because of politics, social affairs, clubs, and pleasure seeking; and the disobedience and disrespect of children attest this fact. The pure Christian principles of God’s holy word are greatly needed to straighten out the tangled threads in the web of home life.
Many of the popular teachings of to-day are directly contrary to Bible truth, yet few seem to recognize the fact. For example, how presumptuous for the scientist to seek to explain, beyond what is written, the mysteries of the created universe, when he must stand in awe before a single blade of grass, unable to tell even why the rootlets seek the darkness, and the tender blades the sunlight! It is best to seek to know only that which is revealed,—“He spake, and it was.” A thorough study of the Bible is the only safeguard against the errors which everywhere prevail. And he who will search the Scriptures daily to know what is truth, “shall hear a word behind” him, saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it.”
Teach children to read the Bible for themselves, to cultivate a familiarity with its passages such as they have with no other book. Inspire them to read it, heed it, love it, and live it, and their eternal salvation need not be a matter of mere conjecture.
O that parents might appreciate the worth of their precious children as did that devoted Roman mother, Cornelia, who, when the jewels of a wealthy Campanian lady were shown to her, said, as she turned proudly to her two promising sons, “These are my jewels.”
“Little children, little children, who love their Redeemer,
Are the jewels, precious jewels, His loved and His own.
Like the stars of the morning, His bright crown adorning,
They shall shine in their beauty, bright gems for His crown.”
