Proverbs 3:12-13

verse 12: “For whom the LORD loves He reproves, Even as a father, the son in whom he delights.”

Nobody likes to be told they are wrong. Nobody likes to be corrected. Nobody likes to be punished. Yet there are many times that proper reproof and correction are what we need to keep us from going down the wrong path. Normally, those administrators of those types of correction are loving authority figures, like parents. Now, I am speaking here of loving correction, not abusive violence.

My father is fond of reminding me of something when several of us are in a conversation about punishment (and my siblings and I mention the “switchings” we got!); he would say, “but you didn’t wind up having too many switchings!” Yes, we learned our lesson the hard way…but we did learn it! We know it was necessary, because God charges the parents with the responsibility of raising children the right way. That way sometimes includes correction from doing wrong. For one day, those children grow up to be adults…and the correction mechanism is more societal (laws, prison, fines) than familial. We, as parents, love our children; to raise them up without them learning that with wrong behavior comes negative consequences…would not be loving them completely.

Something to think about.