Parental Discipline = Children’s Blessing

 

 

The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother. Proverbs 29:15

I used to work with teenagers who had been taken from their parents because of abuse or neglect in the home. Most of them had very chaotic childhoods. They were shuttled from parent to parent, or there was some sort of addiction so that the children got lost on the list of priorities. No one was parenting them most of the time. What became very obvious to me was how important those first three to five years are for forming the character of a child. Many of these children were not respectful and were rarely, if ever, joyful.

One goal of the Christian parent is to have a child who grows up to respect the authority of God. If they never learn to respect their parents they will not understand the need to respect the Lord. The first “lord” in a child’s life is his father and his mother. A child needs to learn to obey his/her parents so he can obey God.

One of the truths taught early in the scriptures is that obedience brings blessing (Deuteronomy 11:27). For a child this can be as simple as doing what his parents tell him to do. Ephesians 6:1 says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.”

A young child can see and begin to understand the blessings of God by being taught to obey his parents. This means the parents have to be diligent about insisting on obedience so their children will be blessed. Please note – this will not happen without parental insistence (not assistance).

In much of our culture it is considered abusive to spank a child.  From my social work days, I can tell you there is a huge difference between spanking and beating. Beating a child out of anger is wrong. Spanking a child as an act of discipline, in response to disobedience and rebellion, is good parenting.

Proverbs 13:24  “Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.”  Clearly, it is our responsibility to discipline our children. If we do not, they will be full of folly (Proverbs 22:15), hated by their parents (Proverbs 13:24),and bring shame to their mothers (Proverbs 29:15). A disciplined child will be wise (Proverbs 29:15) and saved from Hell (Proverbs 23:14).

Parenting is what we do for our children (not “to” them) from babies on up. The blessings come daily, but also when they are older, the blessing will be responsible adults. God loves them and does not want parents to let them run the home – it’s not good for them.

When you are trying to get your child to do something as small as put away his toys or throw away her trash and he/she refuses, the flesh says, “This is not that big a deal, I can deal with it later.” We know later doesn’t come. The Holy Spirit often prompts that parent to go back and insist that it be done now and just as the parent has directed, or there will be consequences. Listen to that Still Small Voice! If the child refuses to obey his parents – then consequences must occur.

If we want to train our children to love the Lord, and know His blessings as adults, to walk in His statutes, and raise our grand-babies to love the Lord, then, please, pay attention to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to discipline them in love. They are more likely to respect you and know the joy of the Lord.