The second thing you owe your child is: direction. The Bible says, ‘Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; the rod of correction will drive it far from him.’ Now, it’s not talking about your child having fun, or even making mistakes; that’s a normal part of childhood learning.
The Bible is talking about ‘foolishness’. This word has several meanings, such as a lack of maturity, a lack of wisdom, or a tendency to rebel against rules. If you love your child, you’ll teach him or her that life is built on rules – if you obey them you succeed, and if you don’t you suffer. For example, when your child is caught speeding, the police won’t let them get away with it. And when they fail to pay their mortgage, the bank won’t let them keep living in the house.
The Bible says these are the misconceptions you must ‘drive’ out of the heart of your child. Just as a car that’s out of alignment tends to drift and needs correction, your child is born ‘out of line’ and needs to be corrected by you. Solomon says, ‘A child left to himself brings shame to his mother’ (Proverbs 29:15 NKJV).
Why’s that? Because a child left to himself is left in the condition in which they were born. And he or she was born in a condition called ‘foolishness’. Therefore, children must be taught to respect authority and to obey rules; they must learn that for every action there’s always an equal and opposite reaction. You owe it to your child to explain that to them.
2 Sam 1-2, John 16
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