Courageous Joy

PARENTING IN PROVERBS - CH 28

28:3 "A poor man who oppresses the lowly is like a driving rain which leaves no food."

28:16 "A leader who is a great oppressor lacks understanding, but he hates unjust gain will prolong his days."

~In any area of leadership we must avoid leading by oppression or simply strutting our authority.

~In parenting - my children WILL respond to pure powerful authoritarian methods...but am I oppressing them? Are they learning to obey or to comply? (Previous parenting blurb - click parenting and scroll if you want to hear more thoughts on this). Are they learning to make independent choices when I'm not around? At what age do I expect them to magically be able to make godly choices if I make all decisions now? At 18? 21? 38?

28:21 "To show partiality is not good, because for a piece of bread a man will transgress."

~We must NOT show partiality with our children.

~For a scrap of our love our children will be led into sin..... be that harboring resentment towards a sibling, lying to earn our favor, think Cain and Abel, Joseph and the 10 older brothers...

~Be generous with love to all our children.

28:23 "He who rebukes a man will afterward find more favor than he who flatters with the tongue."

~A loving rebuke will be more beneficial to our children than oodles of false praise.