Site Moved

Just wanted to put a little post to let you know that I have moved my blog to the following website which contains my blog and some other information. Please see andrewhaire.org for more information. Blessings!
-AH

Children/Discipline follow up from Ashley

Here is the blog post my wife did as a follow up to my post on children and discipline. Enjoy!

http://ashleynandrew.blogspot.com/2012/02/children.html

Children: A Blessing From The Lord

This is the most recent picture of my two wonderful children. This picture was taken in December and the photo shoot was a present from a wonderful Dr. that I worked with at St. John's Hospital in Springfield, MO. She was truly a blessing to my family.

The Bible says in Psalm 127:3-5,

            Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
      the fruit of the womb a reward.
            4       Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
      are the children of one’s youth.
            5       Blessed is the man
      who fills his quiver with them!
                  He shall not be put to shame
      when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

As we can see from this passage, children are a blessing. The Psalmist even continues to say that one who has children is blessed as the warrior who has many arrows in his quiver. In the gospel of Matthew, we see where Jesus remarks about children (Matthew 19:14):

Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.

To unpack this story a little, some people brought their children to Jesus so that He could lay His hands on them and pray over them. The disciples that were with Jesus rebuked the parents; however, Jesus rebukes the disciples and beckons the children unto Him and declared that the kingdom of heaven belonged to them. What does this mean? I think that in his commentary, Matthew Henry explains it well, "The children of believing parents belong to the kingdom of heaven, and are members of the visible church. Of such, not only of such in disposition and affection (that might have served for a reason why doves or lambs should be brought to him), but of such, in age, is the kingdom of heaven; to them pertain the privileges of visible church-membership, as among the Jews of old. The promise is to you, and to your children. I will be a God to thee and thy seed." For this reason, they are welcome to Christ and can share in His grace.

Parents are then to be trustees of their children including their wills and to act in and for their benefit. This leads me to my topic of discussion thanks to a wonderful sister in Christ's suggestion. There are some misinterpreted Scriptures out there. Now, I am not suggesting that my way is the only way; however, after much study I simply want to show you what the Bible says about certain Scriptures that could be misinterpreted.

The first that I will examine is the old saying "Spare the rod, spoil the child". This is not found in Scripture worded exactly as above, at least not that I can find. However, it is worded in Proverbs 13:24 as follows:
Whoever spares the rod hates his son (Prov 13:24a). The rod that is spoken of here is the rod of discipline. The verse continues: but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him (Prov 13:24b). As we see, discipline is highly encouraged in the Scripture. The reason that I believe the word hate is used here is because as we see from Matthew, as parents, we are to be trustees of our children. If we do not discipline our children, then we are hindering their future success. This can be seen in Proverbs 23:13-14: Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol. As we can clearly see, we should discipline our children so that not to condemn them to Sheol which is often referred to as hell or the grave/death in the Hebrew.

Now that I have discussed discipline, and I know all children need it at times, we as parents are held to a higher standard to some respects. Proverbs 22: 6 says: Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. From this verse, we see that we are to train our children up in the Lord (because that is the way for Christians to go) and we have the hope that they will not depart from it. The Apostle Paul tells us not to provoke our children to anger, rather bring them up in the instruction and discipline of the Lord (Eph 6:4).

So, in closing, we see that proper godly discipline is taught and commanded by Scripture. This is NOT, however, by any means giving the OK to abuse and there is a line that should never be crossed. I want to instruct my children in the ways of God and help them to be better citizens for the community and for the Kingdom. This means that, although they are perfect in their grandparents' eyes, they must have discipline appropriate for their age at times. Showing proper godly discipline is showing love; by withholding it, a great disservice is done.