Don’t Fail To Discipline Your Children

Don’t fail to discipline your children.

The rod of punishment won’t kill them.

Physical discipline

may well save them from death. Proverbs 23:13-14

THE LORD USES DISCIPLINE to reveal our sin to us and to train us to live rightly. The writer of Hebrews says, “God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening —it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way” (12:10-11). God’s discipline is clearly purposeful —that we might share in his holiness.

In the same way, we are to discipline our children. We want to impress on them the seriousness of sin and the importance of living rightly. Our discipline shares the same purpose as God’s: that our children might share in his holiness and thereby be saved from eternal death. When our children do not feel the consequence of their sin, they will not understand that sin requires punishment. And if they have no grasp of punishment, how will they ever grasp their need for the one who was punished in their place for their disobedience toward God?

What a responsibility we have to discipline our children. And what a challenge it is to do so in a godly and grace-filled way. Too many times we act out of fear, embarrassment, anger, or frustration. We discipline in rash and out-of-control ways rather than reasoned and purposeful ways. We speak out of a desire to shame or manipulate our children rather than to point them toward repentance and restoration. What we need is for the grace of Christ to overflow in our lives so that we can discipline our children in that grace.

Lord, save me from the sin of venting my anger or frustration on ________ and calling it “discipline.” Show me how to discipline in a way that reveals who you are as a Father and trains ________ toward godliness.