Title Proverbs 23:12-14
We can summarize the main points of today's text into three points. First, you should pay attention to your child's discipline. Verse 12 of the text says, “Be diligent in discipline,” and in verse 13, “Do not try not to discipline the child.” Second, you should be able to lift your rod if necessary for your child's discipline. The second half of verse 13 warns against the error of giving up education due to overprotection of children by saying, “Even if we beat him with a whip, he will not die.” Third, the ultimate purpose of admonishing children is to save their souls. What does verse 14 say? "If you beat him with a whip, you will save his soul from Sheol"? In the Old Testament, “Sheol” refers to the place of death, the grave, the state of death, and the place of punishment and destruction.
Today is also a day designated as Children's Day in our country, and it is also a Sunday observed as Children's Sunday in the church. But these days, Children's Day seems to be misunderstood as a day where children can play as they please and buy everything they want, one day a year. However, it is not limited to Children's Day to make children grow up without being oppressed, but it is something we must do on a daily basis. I think the true meaning of Children's Day is to renew the national responsibility for nurturing healthy workers.
Proverbs gives us many useful words about the education of our children. Among them, references to “the rod of love” or “the whip of discipline” catch our attention. “Teach a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6), “He who spares the rod hates his child, but whoever loves him is diligent in discipline” (Proverbs 13:24). “Scourge and rebuke give wisdom, but a child who is left to his will bring dishonor to his mother” (Proverbs 29:15), “Discipline your child, and he will give you peace and give joy to your heart” (Proverbs 29:15). The words of Proverbs 29:17) seem to have a lot to teach us today.
The zeal and sacrificial devotion of our parents for their children's education is probably unparalleled in the world. And the polarity seems to have gotten worse day by day. But as a result, what happened to the education of the earth today? Today, it is said that education in this country is dead. So, the reaction is showing up as early study abroad or educational immigration. If we had the world's best educational zeal, we should have created the world's best education. Why did it cause the death of education?
On the one hand, successive governments did not try to create an environment in which educators could devote themselves to education purely and confidently, but only used education as a tool to extend their government. see it as But on the other hand, it cannot be denied that the cause is also the selfishness of the people, that is, parents with children. The greed to say that if my children are good enough, the education of the country becomes sick, and in the end, even their own children cannot receive a good education. When their children run around beating and bullying other children, if the teacher scolds them, they chase after them and slap the teacher on the cheek or grab the female teacher's hair, saying that they kill our precious children. It is what made the most spoiled children in the world. The symbol that only my little one knows about has ruined my little one and made the society I live in impossible to live in. Now is the time to go to school and ask the teachers to fix school education even by hitting our children, rather than yelling at the teachers, "Don't touch my children."
Children should be brought up with discipline, not only at school but also at home. If you really love your children, you should lift the whip of discipline when necessary. In Proverbs 13:24 we read earlier, "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently." The whip of love for children and discipline goes together. Verse 13 of today's text says that children do not die even if they are whipped by their parents' discipline. Instead of being beaten to death, verse 14 says that in this way we will be saved from death.
Finally, today we need to pay special attention to verse 14 of this text: "If you beat him with a whip, you will save his soul from Sheol." Through these words, we must see that our children's education should not be merely aimed at worldly success and wealth. The goal of raising children is not just to go to a good school or get a good job. The purpose of raising children to the point of being whipped is ultimately directed toward the salvation of souls, or in other words, a right relationship with God.
Often, even in Christian families, I see people sending their sophomore or senior high school children to academies without going to church on Sundays. There's nothing wrong with that. After entering college, you say you will go to church, but do you think children who have been educated like that will be able to do well in church when they enter college? It won't be as you like it. If you don't go to church because it's more important to go to college, you're training them to stop going to church first if something urgent or difficult happens after that. Those of you who are currently in high school and not sending your children to church, you need to start going to church from next Sunday. Teaching from a young age that keeping the Sunday right is the top priority is the way to be blessed and not regret later.
There are people who say that it is not only for those who believe in Jesus to go to a good college and get a good job, then it will not be to the glory of God. It is the sophistry that we should go to the library or academy rather than church on Sundays for the glory of God. Our God is the God who told his people to rest on the seventh day. He is the God who feeds even if he rests, and breaks the command to rest and makes all the hard work on the 7th day in vain. To obey His will is to glorify God. To glorify God by breaking the Sabbath is to deceive oneself, deceive God, and dishonor God. This false life must be thrown away immediately. Don't teach your children such a false life. It is better to have a millstone around your neck and fall into the deep sea than to make your children stumble by teaching such a false life. We must stand on the right faith and raise our children with the right faith. That's what we promise to do on Children's Day. Making a commitment to it will save the true meaning of Children's Day above all else.