PARENTHOOD
a divine stewardship

I know that some sisters really love the Lord. However, their dispositions are too strong. Since the day they were married, their husbands have been under their control. When they were saved, their husbands were hoping that their temper would change. Eventually their temper did improve a little. But their dispositions remained quite strong. They forced their husbands to go their way. They would even force their husbands to believe in Jesus. The husbands would think that this Jesus is too terrible. Before their wives were saved, they were not as forceful. But now they are forcing them even to go to meetings. The more they do that, the more the husbands will just refuse to go. Sisters, I advise you to let go. Do not pressure your husbands anymore to believe in the Lord. You have to learn the lessons. You must learn to accommodate them. When you are fully changed, they will easily believe.

I know that many parents learn much in leading their children to believe in the Lord. Some parents have strong personalities. Their children have been taught to be obedient since their youth. But in their hearts they do not necessarily like their parents' personalities. When they are forced to believe in the Lord one day, they will refuse. Brother Nee's salvation had much to do with his mother's change. His mother was a shrewd wife at home. She never admitted mistakes to her husband and children. But one day she was saved. When she went home, the first thing she did was to admit her mistakes in tears to Brother Nee. Such a change in the shrewd mother's personality moved the son. Because of that, he went to hear the gospel. When he heard it he was saved.

Some parents are thoughtless and attend few meetings after they are saved, but their children are very spiritual. This shows us a general tendency: those of us who greatly love the Lord easily alienate our children by our zeal. Some mothers love the Lord very much. They rank first in attending meetings. But they have no way to bring their children to the Lord. The reason for this is that they are too strong. The same principle applies to all of us. We must bring people in, not by our zeal, but by our gentleness. Everyone who wants to bring in others should learn to be as yielding as paste. The main characteristic of paste is that it is very accommodating. You can spread paste on anything, be it a flat surface, a sharp corner, or a crooked edge.

Preaching the Gospel Beginning With Relatives and Intimate Friends

Every lover of the Lord must be like paste; he must be able to be spread anywhere. Whoever touches us should get stuck to us. The lovers of the Lord cannot be like steel plates; they cannot have a hard and unyielding personality. If so, they will not bear fruit even if they love the Lord until they die. Every brother and sister who is like paste is able to catch men. Everyone whose personality is like steel can scarcely lead others to Christ. The Lord's word is clear: believe in the Lord, and your household shall be saved. I have been observing this for sixty years. It is difficult to find one who was saved without his household eventually being saved also.

Many did bring their whole household to the Lord, but not without many frustrations. For example, some husbands do not like their wife's personality; they think their wives are too strong. But they can tell that before their wives were saved, there was one kind of hardness. After they were saved, there was another kind of hardness. Before they were saved, they were stubborn senselessly; their hardness would come and go with their temper. After they are saved, they are hard for a specific purpose: they want to bring their husbands to the Lord. But in nine out of ten cases, these husbands will not call on the Lord until they are about to die. When they call on the Lord the wives would cry, "Hallelujah!" They would say with tears that the Lord has heard their prayers. I have seen too many cases like this. Children of those who love the Lord may refuse the gospel at first; they may strongly oppose their parents. But eventually they also believe, and they regret that they hurt their parents and did not turn to the Lord sooner.

Today, we hope that the number in the church will increase. The only way this can happen is by the brothers and sisters all bringing in new ones. Who can say today that all his relatives are saved? There are still many relatives and intimate friends whom we must try our best to bring in. Acts 1:8 says, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the remotest part of the earth." Our unsaved relatives and intimate friends are our "Jerusalem." We must receive power from the Lord to begin preaching from Jerusalem, that is, from our relatives and close friends. We must labor on them. (Witness Lee, Key Points On The Home Meetings, pp. 63-68)

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