Godly Decisions Can Result in Godly Discipline

A young Christian married couple with a stepdaughter has found themselves in a tough position. They only have their stepdaughter during the weekends. So, her secular mother and her live-in boyfriend have her during the week.  The stepdaughter has a friend that has her engaged in inappropriate “dance videos” they put out on TikTok.  As parents, it is important to watch who our children align with as friends and the influence the “friends” have on your son’s or daughter’s behavior.  For the Bible says: But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one….. “Purge the evil person from among you.” 1 Cor 5:11-13

So, when it came time for her to enter Junior High, the Christian parents requested that their stepdaughter go to a different school than her “friend”, which was not their Stepdaughter’s desire.  It is important for parents to be monitoring and praying for their kid’s friendships and encouraging activities that put them in God honoring environments to meet Christian friends – like strong Christian Schools, Youth Groups or Christian Sports Clubs. 

I came across this excerpt from an answer to the question on gotquestions.org:. What does the Bible say about raising children? - (God) He also disciplines His children (Proverbs 3:11; Hebrews 12:5) and expects earthly parents to do the same (Proverbs 23:13). Psalm 94:12 says, “Blessed is the one you discipline, LORD, the one you teach from your law.” The word discipline comes from the root word disciple. To discipline someone means to make a disciple of him. God’s discipline is designed to “conform us to the image of Christ” (Romans 8:29). Parents can make disciples of their children by instilling values and life lessons they have learned. As parents practice godly living and make Spirit-controlled decisions (Galatians 5:16, 25), they can encourage their children to follow their example. Proper, consistent discipline brings a “harvest of righteousness” (Hebrews 12:11). Failure to discipline results in dishonor for both parent and child (Proverbs 10:1). Proverbs 15:32 says that the one who ignores discipline “despises himself.” The Lord brought judgment upon Eli the priest because he allowed his sons to dishonor the Lord and “failed to restrain them” (1 Samuel 3:13).

Again, the goal of Godly decisions about discipline is to conform our children to the image of Christ.  So, a great parenting question to ask in your decision making, when dealing with your child’s behavior is: does this activity, or behavior honor God (align with biblical truths- like 1 Cor 5:11 in the example of “purging evil among you”), for parents should not encourage or support anything that dishonors God- by failing to restrain them!! My wife was very clear in her ‘calling out” our children in balancing love with truth when disciplining, as she would say: “I love you unconditionally, but this behavior is unacceptable!”This then was followed with the opportunity to explain why, from a biblical perspective, the behavior was unacceptable- dishonoring to God.