Abound in
Love at Home and Abroad
Now
God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you.
And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward
you. 1 Thess. 3:11, 12
Missionary work is to be done in the
home. Here those who have received Christ are to show what grace has done for
them. A divine influence controls the true believer in Christ, and this
influence makes itself felt throughout the home and is favorable for the
perfection of the characters of all in the home.
The faithful performance of home duties
has an influence upon those not in the home. Our spiritual progress in the home
is carried into our missionary work abroad. In the father's house is to be
given the evidence of a fitness to work for the church. With earnest, humble
hearts the members of the family are to seek to know that Christ is abiding in
the heart. Then they can go forth fully armed and equipped for service. . . .
The effort to make the home what it
should be--a symbol of the home in heaven--prepares us for work in a larger
sphere. The education received by showing a tender regard for each other
enables us to know how to reach hearts that need to be taught the principles of
true religion. The church needs all the cultivated spiritual force which can be
obtained, that all, and especially the younger members of the Lord's family,
may be carefully guarded. The truth lived at home makes itself felt in
disinterested labor abroad. He who lives Christianity in the home will be a
bright and shining light everywhere.
The more closely the members of the
family are united in their work in the home, the more uplifting and helpful
will be the influence that father and mother and sons and daughters will exert
outside the home.
From My Life Today - Page 221
