Scripture is clear that parents are to teach and discipline their children. There are many verses that directly command us in this issue, but I will point to only three here:
Hebrews 12:11 “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” (ESV)
Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
Proverbs 13:24 “Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.”
Think and pray on these verses. They speak for themselves and need very little commentary. Laying aside controversy over the Hebraic meaning of the word “rod” and other areas of possible dissention, for those who believe the Bible to be the Word of God, there is no question about the fact that God commands us to train and discipline our children.
Children can be taught to understand these scriptures as well. For example, I have explained Proverbs 13:24, even to to my very young children, in the following way:
“Imagine a daddy or mommy who does not love their children. They do not care if their children are good or bad. They do not care if their children grow up to do bad things and go to jail. They do not care if their children grow up to know Jesus or not. When their children do a bad thing, like lying or disobeying, their parents do not care about helping them to become better. They don’t discipline their children because they don’t care what happens to them. That’s why the Bible says, ‘He who spares the rod hates his son.’”
“Daddy and I love you very much. We want you to grow up to be God’s children and follow Jesus. We want you to learn to obey God. If you do not learn to obey Daddy and me, it will be hard for you to learn to obey God later. We have to discipline you sometimes because that will help you to make a better choice next time. If we did not teach you, you would not have a reason to try to behave better. That is why the Bible says, “he who loves his son is diligent to discipline him.”
Children as young as three or four years old can understand these basic truths, and actually see the value of correction.
Want more? Check out An Action Plan for Discipline or see the list of all my Parenting Posts.
We are both feeling the benefits of good correction this week it seems!
I so agree with this post! You made it a lot more clear than I did in mine… and even have the scripture with yours. You Rock!
Great post!
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