Understanding the Purpose and Power of Men

Understanding the Purpose and Power of Men

refer to criminals, don‘t we? Someone commits a murder, and another person is there assisting. Or someone robs a store, and another person drives the getaway car. The second person is called a party to the crime, which means that he or she is just as guilty as the one who committed th e wrong. So the Scripture is saying that if you don‘t co r rect or discipline your child when he needs it, then when he goes bad, you are responsible. Proverbs 29:15 says, “A child left to himself disgraces his mother.” Check out the children in the reform schools. Check out the inmates in the prisons. Look at the people living on the streets. Many of them were left to themselves as children, with no one to teach them character and values. My heart goes out to single parents who have to fill the roles of bo th father and mother. I want to say to you: don‘t let your children train you. You may not know everything in life, but you know more than they do. And that‘s enough for you to be in charge. I don‘t care how old they are, when you‘re paying the mortgage, when you‘re providing for them, you make the rules. If they disobey the rules, you have to make sure they experience the consequences. “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Prov. 22:6 KJV ). The word for

“train” in this verse is the same word that is used for conditioning. The Bi ble is saying, ―Condition your child in the way he should go.‖ Why? He can‘t condition himself. He was born with a rebellious spirit. You don‘t have to teach your children to swear, lie, steal, commit adultery, or have bit

You may

not know

everything,

but you know

more than your

children do.

terness and hatred. It‘s already in them. If you don‘t cond i tion them, they will naturally become wayward. You have to train them. The things children learn from their parents never leave them. I still retain what my father and mother taught me. Do you know that the same temptations that come to any young man came to me? What kept me on an even keel is the values and morals that were instilled in me. There were

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