Cleaning Guy has been absolved. It seems he enlisted the help of his apprentice, Cleaning Guy Junior, and it was CGJ who dared to put away my new book. We would have found it earlier, except CGJ was confused about which bookcase he had been tidying.
I am actually quite relieved that I am not to blame, as I have been known to lose something in plain sight. No matter how many times this happens, it is consistently embarrassing.
Withhold Not Correction is the book in question. Yesterday, I discussed it a bit. Today, I will simply excerpt a few quotes that should have been included then.
Also, so far no one has participated in my handy dandy Scripture chart idea. And perhaps no one will. But if you simply became bored halfway through yesterday’s post, I’d invite you to finish reading it and then donate your ideas to the comments section.
On to the quotes!
Our motive for discipline is to bring our children into a subordinate relationship to the authority of the living God and not just to ourselves. If we seek to make our children submit to us alone, we have failed in our biblical responsibility.
God alone has absolute and ultimate authority; any authority that I have as a parent is only delegated to me by Him. I am not a tyrant. I cannot function as a tyrant. I must realize that as a parent I am in a subordinate relationship to God and I only exercise the authority which He has given to me. I cannot establish what is right and what is wrong; I can only declare what God says is right and wrong in my home. I cannot establish what is true and what is false.
This last one, about applying God’s Word to self-discipline, was a conversation I could see my son enjoying. He would love learning what the verse means, and how God’s commands offer him a measure of protection:
If your children are restless, fussy, and they’ve got ants in their pants in the middle of the worship service or some place else where you want them to sit quietly, don’t just hit them on the side of the leg and say, “Be quiet! Sit still!” Why not open your Bible to Proverbs 25:28 {AV} and apply the authority of God to them where the Lord declares, “He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.” What is the significance of a city that is broken down and without walls? All the strong cities of biblical days were walled cities, and a city that had lost its walls had lost its defense. Anyone or anything could trample over it. Explain to your children that if they cannot control their own spirits, if they cannot control themselves, they’re ripe for anything, or anyone to come along and lead them astray…
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More Posts About This Book:
Because I Said So
You’re Grounded!
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