Parental Example

By Arthur W. Pink 

    Good instruction is to be accompanied by good example.  The teaching that issues only from the lips is not at all likely to sink any deeper than the ears.  Children are particularly quick to detect inconsistencies and to despise hypocrisy.  It is at this point that parents need to be most on their faces before God, daily seeking from Him that grace that they so sorely need and that He alone can supply.  What care you need to take, lest you say or do anything before your children that would tend to corrupt their minds or be of evil consequence for them to follow!  How you need to be constantly on your guard against anything that might render you mean and contemptible in the eyes of those who should respect and revere you!  The father is not only to instruct his children in the ways of holiness, but is himself to walk before them in those ways and show by his practice and demeanor what a pleasant and profitable thing it is to be regulated by the Divine Law.

    In a Christian home, the supreme aim should be household piety – the honoring of God at all times.  Everything else must be subordinated to this high purpose.