Discipline. What do you think of when you hear that word? Depending upon your childhood it might bring back memories of a good swat to the behind. I am sure it might be one of the things that pops into the head of my children.
I recently watched a Chip Ingram video about discipline, and in the video he describes an incident with one of his sons. An incident that involved a car backing out and the words stop, STOP NOW! I would venture to say most of us have probably had one of those close calls with our kids. But, something he said in that video has had me thinking for the last week. He said in evaluating that situation, "I came to realize, if my son doesn't learn how to listen to my voice how will he ever know how to hear God's voice?"
The more I thought about that statement I went one step further with it. If our kids don't learn what discipline is from us or how to respond to it, how will they ever learn how to respond to discipline from God?
I love the English Standard version of proverbs 23:13. It reads, "Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die." Now, I am not advocating child abuse, but I am a firm believer in a good hard hand swat on the behind. In fact such a believer that I am not even going to apologize if I offended your views on child rearing. I think this verse is pretty clear.
Think about it. We are suppose to lead by God's example right? God doesn't remove things in my life that are harmful. He doesn't pick stuff up out of my reach just to keep me out of trouble. He disciplines me, in the same way we are to discipline our children. If I am headed down a dangerous choice or path in life God may smack my hand. The same way you might smack a small child's hand that is reaching out to touch a hot stove.
That smack on the hand may sting for a little bit, but the alternative could be a scar that would last a lifetime. God's discipline is the same way. Telling me no or smacking my hand may hurt for a little bit, but only God in his wisdom knows the scar he could be sparing me from.
Hebrews 12:11 says, "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." Did you get it? Discipline is PAINFUL, it isn't pleasant, but what follows the pain is PEACEFUL fruit. First comes the pain then the peace.
God tells us NO sometimes. A lot of times he tells us no. When did we become a society that feels like we cannot tell our kids no? If we are following God's example there will be some NO's coming out of our mouth. In fact probably quite a few of them; because it's a kids job to push the envelope to find out where the boundaries are. It's our job as parents to set those safe boundaries. The same way God sets boundaries in our lives.
Yes, my kids are grown now so it's easy for me to say these are the things we SHOULD do. I wasn't a perfect parent, I didn't get it right most of the time. Looking back there were lots of things I wish I had done differently. But, I am very proud of the adults my kids have grown into, and part of that is because I wasn't afraid to discipline ( just ask them - apparently they are more than willing to share about all the spankings I gave them).
Proverbs 12:1 says, "Whoever loves discipline, loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid." Let's not be raising a society of stupid children. Teach them discipline!!!!
