Saturday January 23rd, 2021
Memorize: Proverbs 22:15 Contemporary English Versions (CEV)
« All children are foolish, but firm correction will make them change. »
Read: Proverbs 23:12-14 The Message (MSG)
12 Give yourselves to disciplined instruction; open your ears to tested knowledge.
13 Don’t be afraid to correct your young ones;
a spanking won’t kill them.
14 A good spanking, in fact, might save them from something worse than death (Eternal hell).
Message:
In the school I attended in my village, there were children from both affluent and poor homes.
One day, a child from an affluent home committed a misdemeanor, and a teacher meted out corporal punishment to him.
This was an approved medium of discipline in the school but the boy reported to his father who came to school the next day and beat up our teacher. Our teacher reported the assault to the local police, however the rich man had been there earlier to bribe them, so the police did not act on the report.
Our teacher, frustrated and deeply aggrieved, returned and divided the class into two. He put the children of the rich on one side and the rest of us on the other side. He vowed never to flog the children from rich homes again, but would continue to do so to those of us from poor homes.
Today, only a few among the children that were not flogged have amounted to something in life.
If you love your children, you would not spare the rod when they err.
Eli’s children grew to become wayward and God held him accountable for not being firm enough with them.
1 Samuel 2:29-34.
Conversely, God did not hesitate to bless Abraham because He was confident that the patriarch would command his children and household to keep His laws (Genesis 18:17-19).
The second law of thermodynamics says everything left to itself tends to disorder.
In the same vein, any child not strictly cautioned to behave properly will ultimately become spoilt.
I know using the rod on children is now considered child abuse in this generation;
however you must know that there is a difference between correcting a child in love and abusing a child
« If you don’t punish your children, you don’t love them. If you do love them, you will correct them. »
Proverbs 13:24 GNT
The rod is not just the cane; it connotes firm correction when children err.
You cannot be permissive with a child all the time and expect him/her to grow up with good morals.
God expects you to compel your children and entire household to serve Him (Genesis 18:19). Don’t spare the rod.
Reflection: God expects you to command your children and household to uphold his statutes, as Abraham did.
Author: Pst E. A. Adeboye.
Text edited by Naomie
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