THE TRUE NURTURE AND ADMONITION.
"AND, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath; but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Eph. 6:4. How easy it is in dealing with our children to "provoke" them to "wrath"! But here is a positive command from the Lord against that sort of thing. When we provoke our children to wrath we are not only disobeying God, but are doing the children a great injury. The apostle shows by this text that we have quoted that the opposite of provoking our children to wrath is to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The nurture of the Lord, and the admonition of the Lord. How great these things are! How much they comprehend! Think of it, Christian parents, our heavenly Father proposes that our children shall have the nurture of the Lord. That is, they are to have the Lord's own nurturing. And not only are they to have the Lord's nurturing, but they are to have the Lord's admonition. The Lord plainly tells us to bring up our children in His nurture and admonition. The Lord's admonitions and process of nurturing are contained in His Word. They are beautifully, strikingly, and fully illustrated in the life of Christ. Do you study that Word and the divine life of the Master in order that you may give your children what the Lord has already provided for them,—His nurture and His admonition? A.