Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–
July 11– Evening
by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and edited by W. C. Neff
“Tell your children about [the ways of God], and let your children tell their children.”
—Joel 1:3
In this simple way, by God’s grace, a living testimony for truth is to be kept alive from generation to generation. Those who belong to the Lord hand down their witness for the gospel and their covenant relationship with him to their heirs and these, in turn, to their next descendants. This is our first duty; Christianity begins in the home. He is a bad preacher who does not begin his ministry first at home. The heathen are to be sought by all means, and the highways and hedges are to be searched, of course; but home has a prior claim, and misery will come to those who reverse the order of the Lord’s arrangements.
To teach our children is a personal duty; we cannot delegate it to Sunday school teachers, or other friendly aids; these can assist us, but cannot deliver us from the sacred obligation. Proxies and sponsors are wicked devices in this case: mothers and fathers must, like Abraham, command their households in the fear of God and talk with their offspring concerning the wondrous works of the Most High.
Parental teaching is a natural duty; there is no one better to look after a child’s well-being as those who are the authors of his actual being. To neglect the instruction of our offspring is worse than cruel. Spiritual development in the family is necessary for the nation, for the family itself, and for the church of God. False religions and damaging ideologies advance all around us, and one of the most effectual means for resisting its inroads is left almost neglected– namely, the instruction of children in the Faith.
O, that parents would awaken to a sense of the importance of this matter! It is a pleasant duty to talk of Jesus to our sons and daughters. God often works to save the children through the parents’ prayers and admonitions. May every household into which this volume comes honor the Lord and receive his smile. [M&E]
