aged and frustrated." Children are to obey their parents in all things for this is well pleasing in the Lord's sight. To be blunt repeated ly 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 re sponsible to the Lord, not only for the discipline we give our chil dren, but also, to a certain extent, for the reaction to that discipline. Correction is a vital necessity, how ever, whether successful or sinful depends on the way it is done. It must be administered in love. Too many people are always finding fault and never looking 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 re spectable man, he had no under standing of his children. It later came out that he himself had nev er 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 Cod to see the peerless character of our Saviour who is al ways loving, kind and gracious. The heart of the Gospel is to love the Lord thy Cod 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 husband com mend our young teenage son. He Page 53
to pray, and give them simple an swers to how Cod has faithfully led you through the years. Talk about the things that are good in a posi tive way. Do not tear down their mother and father. An entirely different question comes from a woman who says, "My husband points out to me that he will be accountable for all decisions, according to Scripture, in the final analysis. He is very strict in telling our teenagers what they should do. Now they are be ginning to resent him. I do not like being belittled and usually try to explain why our children should obey their father. We are trying to live consecrated lives for Christ. How can I change this situation so that I will not see my Christian teenagers go down the drain?" Your husband's point of view needs correcting. He will not be held accountable for all family de cisions. Every person is given a free moral choice. In Jewish law the father was responsible for the children's direction, control and discipline, but not for all the mis takes they happened to make. The one paramount responsibility he has is to give his children a godly and a Christ-like loving example. He is to represent to the child the very nature of our heavenly Father. The whole message of the Gospel 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 Sav iour's grace. As fathers we must reflect both the righteousness of Cod as well as His marvelous love. Paul reminds us, under the in spiration of the Holy Spirit, "Fath ers, do not provoke your children, lest they grow up to be discour
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