Loving Means Disciplining Sometimes
Posted in being a parent, Brandon's Posts, Christian disciplines, Following God 0 comments
My wife and I are going through a one year Bible together. It is one of those Bibles that breaks every day down into an OT reading, NT reading, Psalms, and Proverbs (going through Psalms twice in a year).
Some days a verse just pops out at us. Such is the case from the other night. We read a verse from Proverbs and both said, "Wow!" Here it is, Proverbs 19:18
In our world today we tend to let kids get away with quite a bit under the umbrella of, "they are just kids." That line is cute for a while, but when someone says it of their 17 year old trashing mailboxes, sleeping around, defacing public property, doing drugs, or getting drunk at parties, it becomes ignorance.
In this post, I'm not going to spend time telling you how to discipline your children. What works for my children may not work for yours. Time out, spanking, gentle correction, or grounding may or may not all have a place in the way you discipline your children.
The important thing is to discipline your child when he or she does wrong. It is not helpful to the child to just let him continue to do wrong. It is not loving to keep allowing her to do things which will end up hurting her.
If you are a parent, you have been entrusted with the care of that child by God. He has given you this joyous responsibility and it is not to be taken lightly. It is a huge responsibility to raise up another human being!
It is alright if our children end up being mad at us every now and then. They do not yet have the hindsight to see that discipline was for their own good.
My oldest son, who will be 3 in a couple months, doesn't like discipline. Sometimes he cries, other times he yells. It breaks my heart to upset him in that way. But if I do not take the time to teach him right and wrong, he has a much greater chance at making some very wrong decisions that will negatively impact himself and possibly others.
As he grows if I let him get drunk or sleep around because, "that's what kids his age do," I am acting as a terrible parent. I'm not looking out for him at all. Saying, "okay son, you may go sin, but do it safely," doesn't make any sense! Poor decisions can actually lead to my child's death.
For me to just sit by and watch them make sinful decisions because I don't love them enough to stop them is throwing away the responsibility God has given me.
One day my boys will grow up and I won't be able to discipline them anymore. They will make their own decisions a part from me. Hopefully though, I will have raised them to know what God declares right and wrong. Hopefully, they will seek God's will for their life above all else because I have loved them enough to discipline them.
Let's raise our children to love doing what is right.
Some days a verse just pops out at us. Such is the case from the other night. We read a verse from Proverbs and both said, "Wow!" Here it is, Proverbs 19:18
"Discipline your children, for in that there is hope; Do not be a willing party to their death."What a line of thought! He has made a connection between the lack of discipline and death.
In our world today we tend to let kids get away with quite a bit under the umbrella of, "they are just kids." That line is cute for a while, but when someone says it of their 17 year old trashing mailboxes, sleeping around, defacing public property, doing drugs, or getting drunk at parties, it becomes ignorance.
In this post, I'm not going to spend time telling you how to discipline your children. What works for my children may not work for yours. Time out, spanking, gentle correction, or grounding may or may not all have a place in the way you discipline your children.
The important thing is to discipline your child when he or she does wrong. It is not helpful to the child to just let him continue to do wrong. It is not loving to keep allowing her to do things which will end up hurting her.
If you are a parent, you have been entrusted with the care of that child by God. He has given you this joyous responsibility and it is not to be taken lightly. It is a huge responsibility to raise up another human being!
It is alright if our children end up being mad at us every now and then. They do not yet have the hindsight to see that discipline was for their own good.
My oldest son, who will be 3 in a couple months, doesn't like discipline. Sometimes he cries, other times he yells. It breaks my heart to upset him in that way. But if I do not take the time to teach him right and wrong, he has a much greater chance at making some very wrong decisions that will negatively impact himself and possibly others.
As he grows if I let him get drunk or sleep around because, "that's what kids his age do," I am acting as a terrible parent. I'm not looking out for him at all. Saying, "okay son, you may go sin, but do it safely," doesn't make any sense! Poor decisions can actually lead to my child's death.
For me to just sit by and watch them make sinful decisions because I don't love them enough to stop them is throwing away the responsibility God has given me.
One day my boys will grow up and I won't be able to discipline them anymore. They will make their own decisions a part from me. Hopefully though, I will have raised them to know what God declares right and wrong. Hopefully, they will seek God's will for their life above all else because I have loved them enough to discipline them.
Let's raise our children to love doing what is right.
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