Tough Love

As much as it is important to love our kids and tell them how much we love them, we must also discipline our kids. That is our responsibility as parents.

A trend nowadays is to be your child’s friend, not their parent. But they don’t need you to be their best friend. They need parental guidance, counsel, and discipline—only you can give that. Only you can be Mom or Dad. They may not like it now but they will thank you later for being a parent and doing what a parent ought to do.

When you discipline your children you actually reflect God’s character. God is love. And because He is love, He disciplines us. The Lord says that whom He loves He will discipline (Revelation 3:19). Hebrews 12 says, “For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way” (verses 10–11 NLT).

Because God loves us, He disciplines us. Deuteronomy 8:5 says, “You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you” (NKJV). If you can go and sin without any concern, remorse, or guilt, that would indicate to me you are not even God’s child. God makes it hard for you to disobey because He is showing you how much He loves you.

If you don’t discipline your children, you don’t show them how much you love them—or how much God loves them.