What do we truly consider important?
Sometimes that’s clearer to the people around us than it is to us. We intend to save for retirement, get the oil changed in the car, and study for that upcoming promotion next month. We don’t intend overlooking our spouse’s birthday, giving in the offering, or the starving children in Africa. We want to do all of those things, putting away money, being the responsible person we should be, and being kind to dogs and cats, also.
Yet our actions tell us out, showing the real us, even as we pretend otherwise. If we are parents, there’s one urgent task that comes above all others. We find it in Proverbs 29:17:
“Correct your son, and he shall give you rest; yes, he shall give delight unto your soul.”
The key word is this verse is “correct.” We misinterpret this to mean “discipline,” as in to punish our children until they do as we desire. Nothing is further from the truth.
If we look up “correct” in Merriam-Webster’s, certainly that definition is there, but it’s a secondary definition, not the primary one. The first definition for “correct,” the one most widely used, is to set on a right path, or to adjust the child’s behavior until it meets our desire.
How do we set our children on the right path? By our example. They will follow the path we tread. Where we place our footsteps, they will place theirs. If they go astray, we gently place them back on the path, show them by our behavior what we want them to do, and walk alongside them until they get it right.
No matter what we intend in the other areas of our life, no matter the great things we accomplish, if we let this one slip, there’s no way to make it right again. We can’t let intent be enough where our children are concerned. How we live is how we show them the way. Let’s make sure we do it with the grace of the Son who gave up everything, even his life, that we could be part of his kingdom. He truly showed us his love with his life.
Let’s do the same. It’s the only way to live.
How we live shows our priorities. Let’s let our relationships shine with the love of Christ.
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Code: FGO.E.21.16b.vp.kjv