Most parents do not like to discipline their children. Some don't like it and so they just do not do it. Others do it because they love their kids and want them to grow up to be responsible people. Still, others use it as a tool to control them and are cruel in doing so.
Discipline is something God ordained. It is the kind that he wants us to use, so that our kids will grow up to be those responsible adults. It is not something we should ignore and just let kids be kids without consequences for bad behavior.
Yet it seems to me that in our society in the past few years or even decades has almost fallen by the wayside in many homes. Children are allowed to do pretty much what they want. And they rule the roosts as it were in a lot of those homes. Parents are to raise and nurture their children and children are not to be the ones in command. And yet so many are. Why is it adults allow this?
I know some would say, "But spanking a child is child abuse."
To that, I say it is not. Oh, it could become that. But if done with love it is quite the opposite. When I needed to be spanked, my dad would always do it with a calm spirit. Never out of anger. He would always say a little prayer beforehand and then tell me he hated to do this more than I hated it. He would then tell me he was sorry that he had to spank me. My thoughts were "Sure, you are not the one getting spanked." I didn't understand that as a child but later in life, I realized that as a parent, he did hate having to discipline me in that way. He was sorry that he had to. Because he loved me but he knew those spankings would grow me up to be the kind of person I am today and not a wild child like so many today are. After that, he would strike me just a few times on the bare legs with a stick. Never a belt, or a hairbrush or even his hands. Then I would go to my room to "think" about what I had done-for awhile.
In 1 Samuel 2:12 we read about the high priest Eli. He had 2 sons that grew up to be priests like their dad. However he did not discipline them and the fact was, they had no regard for God and were doing a lot in Israel that they should not have been doing. And they just plain rebelled against not only Eli but against God as well.
Sadly, Eli was so involved in preaching to the people but he forgot about his own sons. And the result? God judged him very harshly
“Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that members of your family would minister before me forever.’ But now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me! Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained. 31 The time is coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength of your priestly house so that no one in it will reach old age, 32 and you will see distress in my dwelling. Although good will be done to Israel, no one in your family line will ever reach old age. 33 Every one of you that I do not cut off from serving at my altar I will spare only to destroy your sight and sap your strength and all your descendants will die in the prime of life.
34 “‘And what happens to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be a sign to you—they will both die on the same day. 35 I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his priestly house, and they will minister before my anointed one always. 36 Then everyone left in your family line will come and bow down before him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread and plead, “Appoint me to some priestly office so I can have food to eat.Respect for one's own parents, and then for authority and those outside the family should be taught to our children. Teaching them self-control is vital in today's world. There are so many that are not taught these principals and it can and does create crisis in the world around us as well as in our own families. We see it every day on the news.
How far should we go with spanking a child? At what age do they get too old for it? What other ways can we discipline them? Does one size fits all in a family, or should we use different kinds of it for each child? More on this subject tomorrow. I hope you will join me.
Today's cartoon: Really?
Have a blessed day Folks. I am happy you stopped over! Jesus loves you!
Maybe you are one whose parents were abusive and you have passed that way of dealing with bad behavior to your own kids. Or maybe, you go the other way and don't discipline them because of the way you suffered. I want to tell you that God loves you. He wants to teach you to be the kind of mother that can turn that around to become what He wants you to be to them. All things are possible to them who believe. He has entrusted you to guide them and he will give you what you need to do that. Just ask him. He works all things to our good. Even though it sometimes does not look like it. But nothing gets past him that he cannot fix for us when we do. Trusting him is our greatest reward.
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