Love Your Children
“He who spares his rod hates his son,
But he who loves him disciplines him promptly.”
God has given us children to look after and we really need to do it. If you love your child, you will discipline him or her. I am not talking about beating them up, I am not talking about that at all!
I am talking about bringing them up in the fear of The Lord.
The one who spares the rod hates his son - a good example is Eli, the High Priest. He had two disobedient sons, Hophni and Phinehas, they embarrassed their father and took away his authority. The Passion Translation says: “If you withhold correction and punishment from your children, you demonstrate a lack of true love.”
“A refusal to correct is a refusal to love,” another translation says.
I want to be honest with you. I think it is downright cruel, because that child will have to be disciplined at school by other children and they can be very, very harsh, and then later on of course, by life itself. There is no point in trying to discipline a child when he or she is now a teenager. We need to do it when they are young. The Amplified Translation says, “and punishes him early.”
I remember like yesterday, a pastor made an appointment to come and see me, and he brought his two little children with him. They were the most beautiful children, a little girl and a little boy, well-dressed.
We sat in my office and after 10 minutes I cancelled the appointment because the two little children were acting like terrorists. They were pulling the church office apart. I said, “Sorry, I can’t speak to you anymore.” Quite sad, hey?
There is nothing nicer than to go into the home of a large family, and they don’t have to be wealthy either, but everything is peaceful. The children are happy and well mannered, mother is looking radiant and dad is totally relaxed - the presence of The Lord Jesus Christ is in that home.
Please discipline your children while they are still young and they will make you proud in later years.
God bless you and have a wonderful day.