is that God loves us. Christ tasted of death and hell that we might be made in His likeness, adopted into the household of faith by the Saviour's grace. As fathers we must reflect both the righteousness of God as well as His marvelous love. Paul reminds us, under the inspira tion of the Holy Spirit, “Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they grow up to be discouraged and frus trated.” Children are to obey their parents in all things for this is well pleasing in the Lord’s sight. To be blunt repeatedly and strict will cause resentment. This could very well be sinning against the Lord as well as against the children. We are to bring up our youngsters in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Let me say it again: we are respon sible to the Lord, not only for the dis cipline we give our children, but also, to a certain extent, for the reaction to that discipline. Correction is a v i t a l necessity, however, whether successful or sinful depends on the way it is done. It must be adminis tered in love. Too many people are always finding fault and never look ing for the good part of the child’s life. Find things for which to praise your little ones. If God always picked at us and kept throwing our faults back at us, we would soon grow rebel lious. A mother called on me who was in tears. Her husband professed to be a godly man and was active in church affairs. While he was a respectable man, he had no understanding of his children. It later came out that he himself had never been loved as a child. Such actions and reactions you see are very deep-seated. What such an individual needs is to consult the Word of God to see the peerless char acter of our Saviour who is always loving, kind and gracious. The heart of the Gospel is to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, strength, and mind, and to love thy neighbor as thyself. This woman tragically told me, “Never once have I heard my hus band commend our young teenage son. He keeps saying, ‘You’re going to
grow up to be a delinquent. If you don’t go to reform school, or wind up in jail, I miss my guess.’ ” An old proverb says, “If you give a dog the name of a cur he will not rise any higher.” The same is true with young sters. This poor lad confided in his mother, “I’ve heard him say such things so many times I wish I could die. I think dad despises me.” No doubt this father meant well, but he had no r ea l understanding. The grandmother admonished her son, “You shouldn’t be like that.” In an unguarded moment he confided to his wife, “She doesn’t remember how she kicked and abused me when I was lit tle.” Here, you see is the secret. Let us not expect our children to be perfect. We must not provoke them to wrath. Parents sometimes fail to explain that they are not always right. Many times I am sure their young hearts are cleaner and purer in the ways of the Lord than our own; Let them know .we make mistakes and sin against the Lord, needing to ask His forgiveness. Tell them that to learn obedience to their heavenly Father they need to know an -earthly father’s discipline. This, too, must be done in love so that they will grow up to appreciate Christ’s sacrificial love for them. So often I would say to my boys, “When I am too hard on you, son, be patient with your father. He will make mistakes,, but his desire is that you may grow up to become a mature man in Jesus Christ.” The same needs to be practiced by mothers, too. How grateful we can be that the Lord does not always find fault with us, but sets the perfect example for our lives. While He chastises us, it is always done in His gracious love. May we reflect to our children Christ’s compassion and faithfulness. Let us be affectionate and understanding, not sharp or petulant. * r * ¥ Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have. * * * He who thinks lightly of sin thinks lightly of God. 18
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