SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/24/2013
8:53 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Parents
& Children PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Proverbs
Message of the
verses: As promised we will be
looking at “Loving Discipline” from how the book of Proverbs presents it in
today’s SD.
Loving Discipline: Many in our society today think that the way
the Bible speaks of disciplining a child is wrong, and one of the things they
bring up is a proverb that actually comes from Rome in the year 1000 AD which
states “spare the rod and spoil the child.”
The Bible does not say these exact words, but in Proverbs 13:24 it
states “He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to
discipline him (NIV).” We can be sure
that the Roman proverb came from this ancient proverb but they are not the
same, as we see the word love in the Hebrew proverb and not in the Roman
proverb. Many people conger up the idea
of a child being beaten by their parents to the point of hurting them badly,
but that is not what the Bible speaks of loving discipline. Solomon says of his own son in Proverbs
3:11-12 these words, “11 My son, do not
reject the discipline of the LORD Or loathe His reproof, 12 For whom the LORD loves He reproves, Even as
a father corrects the son in whom he delights.”
The author of the book of Hebrews says similar words in Hebrews chapter
twelve, “4 ¶ You have not yet resisted
to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; 5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which
is addressed to you as sons, "MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE
OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; 6 FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES,
AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES." 7 It is for discipline that you endure; God
deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not
discipline? 8 But if you are without
discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children
and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had
earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much
rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as
seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share
His holiness. 11 All discipline for the
moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been
trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness
(Hebrews 12:4-11).”
When we discipline our children we are trying to correct
a character fault in the child, and it is done in a loving matter. When I went to school there was a fear that
if I did something wrong that I would have to receive swats from one of the
teachers, and it caused me to not want to do things that were wrong, although
there were times when I did receive some swats from my teachers and they were
well deserved. Writing on this subject
Solomon writes “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of
discipline will remove it far from him (Pr. 22:15). It is better that the child is corrected
early so that they will not continue down the wrong path. “Discipline your son while there is hope, And
do not desire his death (Pr. 19:18).”
The NIV states “Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not
be a willing party to his death.” “12
¶ Apply your heart to discipline And
your ears to words of knowledge. 13 Do
not hold back discipline from the child, Although you strike him with the rod,
he will not die. 14 You shall strike him
with the rod And rescue his soul from Sheol (Pr. 23:12-14).”
One of the problems in our society today is that many
children are left alone without parental supervision, and of course when this
happens the child is left to do what he wants to do and for the most they will
do what is wrong for that is the nature of humans, and that is why parents have
to train their children in the ways of the Lord. It seems that money is the ruling factor on
what parents do in many cases today and the children are the ones who pay for
this by not having the proper discipline.
Dr. Wiersbe writes the following on Proverbs 22:6: “Proverbs 22:6 is a religious ‘rabbit’s foot’
that many sorrowing parents and grandparents desperately resort to when
children stray from the Lord: ‘Train up
a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from
it.’ They interpret this to mean, ‘they
will stray away for a time but then come back,’ but that isn’t what it
says. It says that if they’re raised in
the wisdom and way of the Lord, they won’t
stray away at all. Even in old age,
they will follow the wisdom of God.
“Certainly it’s true that children raised in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord can stray from God, but they can never get away from
the prayers of their parents or the seed that’s been planted in their
hearts. Parents should never despair but
keep on praying and trusting God to bring wayward children to their
senses. But that isn’t what Proverbs
22:6 is speaking about. Like other
proverbs, it’s not making an ironclad guarantee but is laying down a general
principle.
“In the autumn of 1993, we replaced a pin oak that a
tornado had ripped out o our front yard, and the nursery people attached three
guy-wires to the trunk of the new tree to make sure it would grow
straight. They also taped metal rods to
the two limbs that were growing down instead of straight out. If you don’t do these things while the tree
is young and pliable, you’ll never be able to do it at all. ‘As the twig is bent, so is the tree
inclined,’ says an old proverb, a paraphrase of Proverbs 22:6.
“God has ordained that parents are older and more
experienced than their children and should therefore lovingly guid their
children and prepare them for adult life.
If any of their children end up sluggards (10:5), gluttons (28:7),
fornicators (29:3), rebels (19:26; 20:20; 30:11-12, 17; see Deut. 21:18-21) and
robbers (28:24), it should be in spite of the parents’ training and not because
of it.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: The things that I
have learned or have had reinforced through what I have read and studied in
today’s SD can be used to help in the raising of our grandchildren.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Be prepared to be blessed and to learn from
our church service today.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 32:1-4
1 How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered! 2 How blessed is
the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is
no deceit! 3 When I kept silent about my
sin, my body wasted away Through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon
me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah.
Turning Points Wisdom for
Today: “The Lord gets his best soldiers
out of the highlands of affliction.”
(Charles H. Spurgeon) “But may
the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after
you have suffered a while perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.” (1 Peter 5:10)
2/24/2013 9:34 AM
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