Pressing On with Discipline

Therefore my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, continue to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to act according to His good purpose. Philippians 2:12-13

Our middle child, who we refer to as our "sweet and spicy" daughter, is a rule analyzer and debater. I've had visions of her cross-examining me with impressive success, as I sit crouched down in an ominous court room. Did I mention she is only three years of age? Our discipline approach is quite simple. Here are the rules. Here are the consequences. Whining and crying will not change our authority. Our oldest has fallen into place (most days) as if he's in a military camp. Our bright eyed girl has not.

Recently, my husband and I have examined ourselves as well as our discipline approach. Are we perfectly obedient to our Father in heaven? Well, no. Paul writes in Philippians 3:12, "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own." There we go. We, the parents, know that true obedience can only be God working in us "according to His good purpose." We get our strength from being in Christ. We pray more fervently than we even realize, not only at meal times and bed time, but with this little inner voice, throughout the day because we know the importance of being controlled by the Spirit rather than our very real and present sinful nature.

How can the above realization shape our discipline? #1- We will not soften in our expectations as we are "pressing on" for our kids to make God's instructions their own. #2- We will encourage our children by linking specific behaviors with specific Biblical principles. #3- We will communicate our forgiveness to our children and model asking for forgiveness from our Heavenly Father. This will help them see that Christ Jesus has made us His own through forgiveness of sins. I must confess that we were doing a lot more of #1 than we were numbers 2 and 3. Praise be to God for His perfect love and disicpline. After all, where would we be without the grace of God?

Dear Lord, daily we sin and fall short of Your glory. Forgive us. Renew us. Help us to "do all things without grumbling or questioning that we may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish..." Philippians 2:14a. Lord, we know it is only because You have made us Your own through the blood of Jesus that we are able to illuminate His goodness that is in us. Help us parents be patient with our kids, remembering we are all "pressing on" as Your children. AMEN.

Choices

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who being in very natureGod, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Philippians 2:5-11

My 12 year old daughter recently purchased a book titled Coke or Pepsi? The book poses
all sorts of opinion questions that the girls are supposed to answer. For example, do you prefer to drink Coke or Pepsi? I suppose the idea is to get girls talking to each other, as if they need any help with that! Not to be outdone, my 10 year old son came home with a similar book for boys. It is titled Would You Rather…? Not surprisingly, the back of the book encourages the reader to “Challenge your friends with over 300 disgusting dilemmas!”


If someone were to write a book like this for moms, it would probably come closer to the
boy version. I’ll leave it to your imagination to come up with disgusting or difficult motherhood dilemmas. My personal list could go on for quite awhile.   Unfortunately, as moms, we have no choice but to deal with difficult dilemmas. When we became a mother, our selfish nature was forced into the backseat. When our children are babies we quickly realize that for every cute and cuddly Kodak moment, there are about 10 unpleasant moments. This ratio doesn’t change as they get older. Helping them make God-pleasing choices, or making these decisions for them, often involves a battle.


Thankfully, the biggest battle, the most difficult task to complete, has been done for
us. The price of our sins has been paid. God’s plan for our salvation put Christ on the road to
Calvary. Along the way he held unwaveringly to His Father’s plan. He battled with religious
leaders. He touched disgusting, diseased people. He encouraged his disciples to make the right
choices and reprimanded them when they didn’t. He spent his life surrounded by the unclean
and rejected of society and then suffered unimaginable pain and death. The easy way out was
never an option for him.


When we are faced with days of unpleasant choices, we need to remember our ultimate
goal. The reward at the end of our life is eternity with our savior. My daily prayer is for my
children to have this as their goal as well.


Dear Lord, please help us to focus on you. Too often we get caught up in self-pity. We listen
to a world that encourages us to reward ourselves in this life. You set the perfect example for us and then you took our punishment. Help our attitudes toward our daily tasks to reflect this
marvelous truth. In Jesus’ name, Amen.