8. CHASTENING    --page 40--

         Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby (Heb.12:11).

         [HomeARC note (9/98): The Charter is the source of current Family policy and rules regarding the discipline of minors.]

         1. Discipline must always be tempered with love & mercy.
         2. The Lord is very tolerant & patient with the weak & the helpless, but He's a firm parent with those old enough to know better.
         3. Even though saved, if you do things that are wrong, God is going to punish you for it.
         4. Open rebuke is better than secret love. Pro.27:5.
         5. The rod & reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. Pro.29:15
         6. Correct thy son, & he shall give thee rest, yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul. Pro.29:17.
         7. Let's quit disciplining people so severely and so harshly for poor little blunders of the mind.
         8. Give spankings in love as a loving father in the right way--not too hard, not too harsh, no too heavy, not to the point of total discouragement & despair so that your child gives up & quits trying, or your spiritual babe just quits & backslides & goes home because he just can't live up to your standards.
         9. Better never to have promised that spanking than to have promised it & not given it!
         10. A law without enforcement is no law at all! A punishment without application is no punishment at all!
         11. Formula for discipline: Love never fails!
         12. The next time you get a spanking from God's officer of the law, the Devil, just remember, it was probably your own fault!
         13. You cannot threaten judgement & then not carry it out! A father without a rod is no father at all! A law without enforcement is no law at all!
         14. It's not fair to punish a child for doing something wrong that he didn't know was wrong.
         15. Each child's discipline must be tailored for his particular needs, his individual personality! A lot depends on the child & what really gets through to him.
         16. You need a lot of love, patience, prayer & reasoning with your children!
         17. Even God's spankings are done in Love & are a proof of His Love!
         18. With every rule & every law there has to be some kind of agreed forewarned punishment.
         19. Spankings are worth it if they get results!
         20. In the Bible, the word for child-training is chastening!
         21. Thank God for the rod!
         22. I frequently scold & apply the rod, but I always add Love's healing balm afterwards to soothe, encourage, comfort & give you hope of recovery & of redeeming yourself.
         23. God chastises people for whom there are still some hopes.
         24. When you have to use the rod of chastisement, be sure you wield it in the right spirit.
         25. If there's anything any soldier has got to learn to do, 'tis to be able to take a cussin' out for his mistakes by his commanding officer, & say "Yes sir, thank you sir!"
         26. Chastisement is God's intolerable compliment to show you He loves you.
         27. Correction does much, but encouragement does more. Encouragement coming after censure is the sun after a shower.
         28. When my father found me on the wrong track, he always provided switching facilities.
         29. God's spankings are sometimes hard to take, but they're a token of His love, His "intolerable compliment" and are good for you if you learn your lesson thereby & are thus brought into harmony & happiness with Him.
         30. God sometimes wields the heaviest rod on the backs of His Own children when they backslide, because they know better and are without excuse!
         31. The bird whose pinion was once broken, by the grace of God will fly even higher than before.
         32. God only uses broken men & women--no others will do!
         33. God, our good Father, uses correction, to keep us going in the right direction.
         34. If you don't take the Lord's hint, He'll sometimes give you a shove.
         35. Those who can't be controlled through love have to be controlled through fear. Even the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.
         36. The Devil is the prosecuting attorney, & if there's something he can lay his finger on, he has the right to do it.--That's the rule! He has a right to afflict that body or person with punishment or chastening because of sin.
         37. Get better, not bitter.
         38. The prevention of crime begins in the high chair, not the electric chair.
         39. The rod is a last resort, & it usually shows that there's been some failure along the line, improper teaching & training & not loving them up in the way of the Lord.
         40. Don't be afraid to use the rod, & look on it as the rod of God in your hand, God's servant, & may you teach your children to fear you as God teaches His children--us--to fear Him!
         41. It is easier & better to build boys than to repair men.
         42. Everything else in the modern home is now controlled by the flick of a switch.--Why not the children?
         43. The time to start correcting the children is before they start correcting you.
         44. You cannot change your ancestors, but you can do something about your descendants.
         45. You're not that indispensable, nobody is!--Not even me! If I begin to cause more trouble than I'm worth & be more of a hindrance than a help, God will get rid of me!
         46. You are going through the breaking, the garden, the circumcision of the heart, & it hurts, but it hurts so good when He chastises you, for it's the assurance that He loves you & you're His child.
         47. In order to bring forth the sweetness, there has to be some suffering. To bring out the beauty of the flame, something must go to ashes!
         48. The best kind of so-called punishment should be chastening or child-training, something that will teach them something, train them & help them to learn the lesson, & help them never to make the same mistake again.
         49. The Shepherd's rod both saves & directs the sheep, & sometimes He may have to give you a whack with it to keep you on the right path or to turn you off the wrong path.
         50. "He chastens us for our profit that we might be partakers of His holiness." In other words, through it He cleanses us, He purges us from the sins & impurities in our own hearts that cause all the trouble, & we're made clean, thank God! (Heb.12:10)
         51. If you make some rules too hard, then some people may get rebellious & throw them all to the wind!
         52. Not that the rod of chastisement is wrong but it is the spirit in which it is wielded that counts. God Himself chastises us with His rod but He does it in love & in patience & always comforts us afterwards & tries to encourage us to keep on in spite of our mistakes.
         53. Be sure you're in the right spirit as you correct those around you for their mistakes & their errors & their sins, even as God does us & as we would want others to do unto us for ours.
         54. God is not only a God of love, but He is also a God of wrath & chastisement & judgement if you disobey the rules & endanger yourself, your life, our Family & the work!

         (See also No. 18, 38, 39, 55, 75, 606, 718, 915, 1023, 1512, 1527.)

         55. DEU.8:5,6 Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, and to fear Him.
         56. 2CH.7:13,14 If I shut up Heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people: If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
         57. JOB.5:17,18 Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: For He maketh sore, and bindeth up: He woundeth, and His hands make whole.
         58. JOB.33:19 He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain.
         59. PSA.30:5 For His anger endureth but a moment; in His favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
         60. PSA.73:14 For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.
         61. PSA.94:12,13 Blessed is the man whom Thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of Thy law; That Thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.
         62. PSA.118:17,18 I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord, The Lord hath chastened me sore: but He hath not given me over unto death.
         63. PSA.119:67 Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept Thy Word.
         64. PSA.119:75 I know, O Lord, that Thy judgements are right, and that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.
         65. PSA.141:5 Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head.
         66. PRO.3:11,12 My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of His correction: For whom the Lord loveth He correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
         67. PRO.9:8,9 Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee, Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.
         68. PRO.15:32 He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.
         69. PRO.17:10 A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool.
         70. PRO.19:25 Smite a scorner, and the simple will beware: and reprove one that hath understanding, and he will understand knowledge.
         71. PRO.25:12 As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.
         72. PRO.27:5,6 Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
         73. PRO.28:23 He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with the tongue.
         74. PRO.29:17 Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.
         75. ECC.7:5 It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools.
         76. ECC.8:11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
         77. JER.10:24 O Lord, correct me, but with judgment: not in Thine anger, lest Thou bring me to nothing.
         78. MAT.18:15-17 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
         79. 1CO.11:32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the World.
         80. 1TI.5:20 Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.
         81. TIT.1:13 Rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith.
         82. TIT.3:10,11 A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.
         83. HEB.12:5-13a My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way.
         84. REV.3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

         (See also DEU.21:18-21.)

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family