Page 60 - HOPE FOR NEXT GENERATION

HO PE FO R T HE NEXT G ENERAT I O N

Fathers, do not irritate and provoke your children to
anger (do not exasperate them to resentment) but
rear them (tenderly) in the training and discipline
and the counsel and admonition of the Lord.
(Ephesians 6: 4).

Our parents are very eager to quote verses 1 to 3 of Ephesians 6 but

jump this verses, yet to their own detriment. Let us be careful not to
push our children to their graves because the bottom line is that the

Scripture must be fulfilled that if they did not honor their parents it

will not be well with them and they will not enjoy long life. If a child
did not do well and died before you because you provoke them to be

disobedient and in so doing incur the wrath of God as it is written,

who loses?
For discipline to be effective the two parties must be involved. We

should not partner with our children when being disciplined by
anyone no matter who, in as much as they are being corrected. It

makes them know how serious the offence is and your stand, if
not they see it as a compromise. Compromise in the sense that the

person is wicked or does not love them or that is not something

actually bad. They will have that impression towards that
particular matter in as much as any of their parents support them.

Another mistake is that parents tend to correct a child only when

he/she does wrong to them but when an outsider is involved they
overlook it, (an outsider could be an uncle, aunty, neighbor etc.),

it is also an act of compromise and such a child will never take
such correction to heart.