Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The worst disrespect parents can show towards little children (and
teenagers too) is to mock them for perceived faults and failures.
Some parents make fun of a teenage girl for putting on a few pounds,
so she ends up being an anorectic because she longs for dignity and
fears mistreatment. Instead of saying “thank you” for a lovely picture
drawn by their five-year-old, critical parents will poke fun at the
drawing’s imperfections. When kids bring home a bad report card,
some parents fly into a rage and call the poor child “stupid” even if he
tried his hardest to please THEM. Immature Christian moms and dads
live vicariously through their children, especially their sons. When
junior fails to score a home run out on the baseball field, dad might
berate him for slipping, tripping or being too slow. He might even
mock his son’s masculinity for being a “wimp”.
Paul commands parents NOT to provoke their children to get all upset
at them (Col.3:21). Some parents, even so-called Christian believers,
will take nasty little digs at their kids just because they’re in no
position to escape. These parents figure that since they pay for
necessities to maintain the life and health of their kids, that they “own”
them body and soul, which includes some imaginary right to treat their
helpless kids with disrespect. If these childish adults think that way, I
can treat them very same way. I the Lord also maintain THEIR lives
with food, employment, and countless other blessings. I would never
insult them but I would make them sense that there is a deep rift
between them and Myself, an alienation which makes it feel like their
prayers are bouncing off the ceiling. And I can remove My blessing
from their lives and bring heartbreaking circumstances their way to
humble their mean souls.
The Prodigal Son went out to make his own way in the world, armed
with bagfuls of cash from the sale of his part of the family inheritance.
Oh, he had lofty plans for his future, but he made a lot of dumb
decisions. The Prodigal Son was a sociable guy who didn’t want to
look like a square or a tightwad too stingy to treat his pals to a good
time. Through the bad influence of bad friends, he got suckered into
the swinging party animal scene, and to such an extent he became
promiscuous and blew all his dad’s hard-earned finances on prostitutes
and wild living.
When all his inheritance money was spent and the Prodigal Son had no
more resources to fall back on, he realized he had to swallow his pride,
get up out of the hog pen of failure and go home to his dad. This lad
realized he ran the risk of being raked over the coals for failure and
irresponsibility, if his dad spoke to him at all. But surely they wouldn’t
begrudge him a few kitchen scraps they were going to throw out
anyway. It was worth a try.
Christian parents, don’t EVER tear down your precious little children
and growing youngsters when they need encouragement to mature
into loving, strong, capable, Christlike adults. Wicked words minister
death to another person’s soul! After years of being belittled, insulted
and mistreated by other family members, even if they say they’re “just
kidding”, there will be dire, sometimes permanent consequences. The
grownup child will not face the workplace with the same degree of
confidence as someone who has always been treated like a worthwhile
individual. That person might cry at the slightest provocation because
“life hurts”. If they’re a man, they might bottle up these bad emotions
so much that it gnaws at their innards like a corrosive poison and
could manifest in outward bodily illnesses. If they’re a woman, they
might lose their natural feminine tenderness of heart and become so
mistrustful and cynical they can’t stand working around the public, or
even in the social setting of an office.
Don’t ever allow insults to fly back and forth between your children.
Some say sibling rivalry is a very normal, natural part of growing up,
and there must be something wrong with any child who never fights to
maintain his/her place in the pecking order. Let My will be done on
earth as it is in heaven. Do people fight for power in heaven?
Death and life are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). Truly
an evil tongue is a world of wickedness, set on fire by hell itself (James
3:6). I have heard the grossest insults exchanged between a dominant
sibling trying to keep a younger brother or sister “in their place” and a
child who is so stung they feel they can’t help but retaliate in order to
save face. Quarreling children minister DEATH to each other through
unkind, vicious verbal attacks.
Parents, always discipline your children in love. You don’t have to beat
bad behavior out of them. Indeed you CAN’T beat the fallen nature
out of anyone (Prov.27:22). If someone is determined to act like a
fool, that is his nature and only the Cross of Christ can deliver him
from satan’s bondage. Physical punishment is DANGEROUS in the
hands of imperfect, out-of-control parents who are driven by anger
and don’t know where to draw the line. If you’ve trained your child to
love Jesus, and especially if they’re born again, they ought to
RESPECTFULLY listen to you as a wise parent while you’re
reprimanding them for bad behavior. Christian children should accept
an appropriate punishment with the full knowledge of why it’s being
inflicted. For some it could mean doing extra chores for a few days
instead of having fun with their friends. For others, it could be loss of
privileges or grounding.
Always make the punishment fit the crime. If, for example, an older
child verbally abuses a younger sibling by bragging that he gets to go
to camp because he’s loved a whole lot more than the younger one,
then he shouldn’t get to go. Instead, he ought to spend that time at
home studying what My Word teaches about love. And once the child
has prayed for forgiveness and received a fresh anointing of My love,
he must DEMONSTRATE that love by being a friend and good example
to his offended sibling.