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The work of making home happy
does not rest upon the mother alone. Fathers have an
important part to act. The husband is the
"house-band" of the home treasures, binding by his
strong, earnest, devoted affection the members of
the household, mother and children, together in the
strongest bonds of union.
His name, "house-band," is the
true definition of husband. . . . I saw that but few
fathers realize their responsibility.
The Head of the Family
Firm
The husband and father is the
head of the household. The wife looks to him for
love and sympathy and for aid in the training of the
children; and this is right. The children are his as
well as hers, and he is equally interested in their
welfare. The children look to the father for support
and guidance; he needs to have a right conception of
life and of the influences and associations that
should surround his family; above all, he should be
controlled by the love and fear of God and by the
teaching of His word, that he may guide the feet of
his children in the right way. .
The father should do his
part toward making home happy. Whatever his cares
and business perplexities, they should not be
permitted to overshadow his family; he should enter
his home with smiles and pleasant words.
The Lawmaker and
Priest
All members of the family
center in the father. He is the lawmaker,
illustrating in his own manly bearing the sterner
virtues: energy, integrity, honesty, patience,
courage, diligence, and practical usefulness. The
father is in one sense the priest of the household,
laying upon the altar of God the morning and evening
sacrifice. The wife and children should be
encouraged to unite in this offering and also to
engage in the song of praise. Morning and evening
the father, as priest of the household, should
confess to God the sins committed by himself and his
children through the day. Those sins which have come
to his knowledge and also those which are secret, of
which God's eye alone has taken cognizance, should
be confessed. This rule of action, zealously carried
out by the father when he is present or by the
mother when he is absent, will result in blessings
to the family.
The father represents the
divine Lawgiver in his family. He is a laborer
together with God, carrying out the gracious designs
of God and establishing in his children upright
principles, enabling them to form pure and virtuous
characters, because he has preoccupied the soul with
that which will enable his children to render
obedience not only to their earthly parent but also
to their heavenly Father.
The father must not betray his
sacred trust. He must not, on any point, yield up
his parental authority.
To Walk With God
The father . . . will
bind his children to the throne of God by living
faith. Distrusting his own strength, he hangs his
helpless soul on Jesus and takes hold of the
strength of the Most High. Brethren, pray at home,
in your family, night and morning; pray earnestly in
your closet; and while engaged in your daily labor,
lift up the soul to God in prayer. It was thus that
Enoch walked with God. The silent, fervent prayer of
the soul will rise like holy incense to the throne
of grace and will be as acceptable to God as if
offered in the sanctuary. To all who thus seek Him,
Christ becomes a present help in time of need. They
will be strong in the day of trial.
Maturity of Experience
Called For.
A father must not be as a
child, moved merely by impulse. He is bound to his
family by sacred, holy ties.
What his influence will be in
the home will be determined by his knowledge of the
only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.
"When I was a child," Paul says, "I spoke as a
child, I understood as a child, I thought as a
child: but when I became a man, I put away childish
things." The father is to stand at the head of his
family, not as an overgrown, undisciplined boy,
but as a man with manly character and with his
passions controlled. He is to obtain an education in
correct morals. His conduct in his home life is to
be directed and restrained by the pure principles of
the word of God. Then he will grow up to the full
stature of a man in Christ Jesus.
Submit the Will to God
To the man who is a husband and
a father, I would say, Be sure that a pure, holy
atmosphere surrounds your soul. . . . You are to
learn daily of Christ. Never, never are you to
show a tyrannical spirit in the home. The man
who does this is working in partnership with satanic
agencies. Bring your will into submission to the
will of God. Do all in your power to make
the life of your wife pleasant and happy.
Take the word of God as the man of your counsel. In
the home live out the teachings of the word. Then
you will live them out in the church and will take
them with you to your place of business. The
principles of heaven will ennoble all your
transactions. Angels of God will cooperate with you,
helping you to reveal Christ to the world.
A Fitting Prayer For a
Quick-tempered Husband
Do not allow the vexations of
your business to bring darkness into your home life.
If, when little things occur that are not exactly as
you think they should be, you fail to reveal
patience, long forbearance, kindness, and love, you
show that you have not chosen as a companion Him who
so loved you that He gave His life for you, that you
might be one with Him.
In the daily life you will meet
with sudden surprises, disappointments, and
temptations. What says the word? "Resist the devil,"
by firm reliance upon God, "and he will flee from
you. Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to
you." "Let him take hold of My strength, that he may
make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with
Me." Look unto Jesus at all times and in all places,
offering a silent prayer from a sincere heart that
you may know how to do His will. Then when the enemy
comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will
lift up a standard for you against the enemy. When
you are almost ready to yield, to lose patience and
self-control, to be hard and denunciatory, to find
fault and accuse - this is the time for you to send
to heaven the prayer, "Help me, O God, to resist
temptation, to put all bitterness and wrath and
evil-speaking out of my heart. Give me Thy meekness,
Thy lowliness, Thy long-suffering, and Thy love.
Leave me not to dishonor my Redeemer, to
misinterpret the words and motives of my wife, my
children, and my brethren and sisters in the faith.
Help me that I may be kind, pitiful, tenderhearted,
forgiving. Help me to be a real house-band in my
home and to represent the character of Christ to
others."
Exercise Authority
With Humility
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