Seems everyone these days, including parents, want to blame
everyone and everything else for the way their kids are. We blame the school teacher,
we blame the youth pastor, we blame our neighbors, and even movies and video
games. But the truth we cannot escape is that children are the responsibility
of the parents. It is mom and dad’s job to train up the child in the way he
should go, so that when he is old he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22).
If you want to see the quality of leadership in parents,
look at their kids. Not only do we blame everything else for the condition of
our children; our first instinct is to dope them up with drugs if they’re disobedient
or lack focus. Psychotropic drugs are not the answer; DISCIPLINE is the answer.
God tells us in Matthew 18 that if anyone leads astray one of these little
children who believe in Him, he would be better off thrown into the depths of
the sea with a mill-stone hung round his neck! But parents are so
plagued with fear over discipline that they avoid it at all costs; especially
the kind God requires in order for them to grow properly.
Once children are born again, they are to be treated as the
righteousness of God in Christ and this type of discipline is no longer
required. However, for children who have not yet received Christ, Proverbs is
full of God’s design for the discipline of children.
Proverbs 23:13-14
Do not withhold discipline from a
child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. If you strike him with
the rod, you will save his soul from Hell.
Proverbs 13:24 Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but
he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.
Proverbs 29:17 Discipline your son, and he will give you
rest; he will give delight to your heart.
Proverbs 29:15 The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a
child left to himself brings shame to his mother.
Proverbs 19:18 Discipline your son, for there is hope; do
not set your heart on putting him to death.
Proverbs 22:15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child,
but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.
Proverbs 20:30 Blows and wounds scrub away evil; beatings purge the soul.
This Godly
discipline sounds harsh, but after having my eyes opened to the spiritual
truths; I understand now why these severe methods are needed in young ones. We
aren’t talking about abuse here; abuse is something different, from a heart of
malice, and that makes God angry.
Are you aware that there are communities of people who dress
up like goats and live like animals because they say it takes them away from
their human responsibilities and helps them escape their reality? Are you aware
there is a 40 year old man who lives his life as a 6 year old girl? These are
not fun, childhood pass times that carried over into adulthood; these people
have literally lost their minds to the demonic influence because they were not
raised according to God’s principles. Are you aware that in the state of
Virginia, they are beginning to teach kids as young as 4 about the meaning of transgender
and how to choose what gender they want to be?
Discipline is not just about the physical; if children are
not raised in the truths of Jesus, who He is and who they are in Him, they will
not be able to avoid the consequences. Let us parents (either natural or in the
faith) NOT compromise our families any longer. Let us stand fast therefore in
the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again
with a yoke of bondage.
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