Judges 1:1-2:9, Luke 21:29-22:13, Psalm 90:1-91:16, Proverbs 13:24-25
Pray: Lord, I want to love my children. Part of loving them is disciplining them. Help me to get over anger before I get into discipline. Help me to pray through before saying or doing something I regret. Help me to communicate to my children just how much I care!
Read: Proverbs 13:24 says those that spare the rod of discipline hate their children. Those who love their children care enough to discipline them. Sometimes our children seem out of control. We must be extra careful though when disciplining them that we are not out of control.
Edify: There is a lot of debate in Christian circles about “spanking children” as a form of discipline. But regardless of how we discipline our children we know that if we love them we discipline them and if we hate them we don’t. But before disciplining our children we must deal with anger within ourselves. We must not discipline when we are angry! One more time…we must not discipline when we are angry! My dad used to say to me, “This hurts me more than it hurts you.” I didn’t believe him for even a minute until one time I saw tears rolling down his cheek as he disciplined me.
Practice: When a child acts up we react…sometimes badly and sometimes quickly. Find your easy chair and pray or hide yourself away in your bedroom and pray. Cool off before you speak to your child or discipline him. Be sure your heart is right. Be sure you are filled with compassion and concern and not filled with rage and anger.
No comments:
Post a Comment