Welcome Home!?

“Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.” (Proverbs 22:15)

We just returned from another trip to our “home away from home” in Belize. There are a lot of things I could share with you in this blog, and maybe over the next few weeks I will, but one story seems to stand out as an object lesson of life in these United States. One of the lessons we all learn when we take a trip to another culture is just how different things are in many other parts of the world. We get de-sensitized to life here because we live in it all the time. Sometimes it takes a trip like this to get out of the country and see things from a different perspective. It is like being in a room with a foul odor. After a while, you don’t notice it any more.

Children in Belize are full of energy and life – and mischief – just like they are here. But there is a stark difference. There is a respect for authority and a courteous demeanor to the children we see in Belize that was once part of our society. Unfortunately, that respect now only resides in a small minority of children in the US. After living in Belizean culture for 10 days and getting used to it, our team arrived back last Monday. As we sat at the gate awaiting our connecting flight in the Houston airport, we observed the “family from hell”. There were two children about ages 3 and 5, who displayed some of the most rebellious and undisciplined behaviour I have seen in a long time. They were running around the gate area screaming and giggling, which in and of itself is not unusual for children of that age. They have boundless energy that if bottled, could solve the world’s energy problems. It was the parent’s attempt to corral the children that got my attention. It was, “Now, Johnny, stop that… come here, please… I’m not going to tell you again…”, and a bunch of other toothless threats that were not only ignored by the children, but responded to in a most disrespectful manner. They cried and pulled away whenever one parent finally was able to catch up with one of them. Requests to settle down were met with, “NO! You can’t make me!” The little girl actually slapped her mother once. I saw the father one time just sit in a chair and bury his face in his hands as if to say, “I give up!” I came real close to saying to him, “Sir, if you don’t know how to spank those children, I do.” I didn’t; but I wanted to. As the four of us on the team sat there and observed all that, I said to them, “Welcome home…”

God made a place on the backside of our anatomy that stings enough to get our attention, and you can’t break it. Proverbs says: “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. (13:24) Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying. (19:18) Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. (23:13) The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. (29:15). Some might object. Certainly there is such a thing as child abuse, and it is a heinous evil. But I submit (and the Bible agrees), that no discipline is child abuse also. The object lesson is this: Hebrews 12:5-11 tells us that God disciplines his children, and as our Heavenly Father, he will discharge his duties fully, completely, and in perfect truth and righteousness. God would never think of abusing his children by being too harsh on them. His grace knows no limits, and he knows we are just children, subject to the natural things that befall us. Some parents discipline their children out of their frustration and inconvenience, instead of for their rebellion. Let kids be kids. But God also does not abuse his children by letting them run wild as holy terrors like the brats in the Houston airport. When we step out of line in our hearts in rebellion and evil, God will deal with it according to the exact measure of the “crime”. I am glad he does. Our Father loves us enough to pull out the “board of education” when it is necessary. We should discipline our children in the same manner. As Hebrews says, when proper godly discipline is employed, it produces the peaceable fruit of righteousness and makes us partakers of his holiness. May we continue to strive for the goal of his holiness.