Discipline, an important tool in instilling obedience

What is discipline? Discipline according to the dictionary is the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behaviour using punishment to correct disobedience. Discipline should not be meted out in anger nor meted out to instil fear. The overall motive for discipline is love.  ‘My son do not despise the LORD’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in‘ (Proverbs 3:11-12). Remember that our children are and grow up to be God’s children. I for one do not want to be the reason my children have the wrong view of our loving God and Father. Parents are responsible for teaching children obedience so the goal is to get the children to obey and not to show them who is boss. My advice is learn to keep your own personal frustrations out of the training session!

So I have a confession to make, I was not one of those parents that was keen to spank my children. That is the reason why I signed up for parenting class, clearly I still carried the scars from my days of being disciplined. I wanted to understand the why, why it was important, why I should carryon the practice? So first let me paint  the big picture. In our relationship with God, obedience is the key to growing in intimacy with Him and learning to lean on Him. The more we obey Him, the more we do what His Word says, the more we trust Him and the more we grow to love Him.

Children come into the world with no preconceived ideas at least as far as we can tell of how things are in this world so it is our duty to teach them. We have to do this by encouraging them to do ‘good’ things mainly with words of affirmation and then we discourage them from doing ‘bad’ things by punishing them. We discourage them from disobeying us by having them face consequences that cause them pain and not necessarily physical pain because we want them to respect and honour us as an authority in their lives. ‘No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it‘ (Hebrews 12:11).

So remember to think of discipline as a tool to instil obedience and not as an end in itself. Obedience is a character trait that will serve our children well in their relationship with their heavenly Father.