Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Christ, the ultimate model

A few nights ago I was thinking about a scenario in my head. I would be having a conversation with someone and they would ask me about discipline and I would say that we don't hit people in our house or hitting is not allowed in our home. That person would have a confused look on their face and then they would ask "Well then what DO you do?". I would tell them about re-direction when they are very little, natural and logical consequence, time-in or comfort corner, etc. I would say that my job is to teach my child how to handle his feelings in appropriate ways and that I want their obedience to come from the heart, not out of fear. And as parents we should model the behavior we want to see. We are trying to model ourselves, and how we discipline after Christ.
This got me thinking. The point of Jesus coming to earth was for Him to model the type of life He wants us to live! Jesus isn't in heaven looking down on us ready to zap us when we do something wrong. We do have to face the natural consequences of our choices, but He doesn't throw in an extra, unrelated punishment for good measure. He is full of grace and His love is not conditional on how we act. Christ is our model as His followers and as parents we are models for our children and their first idea of who God is.
Christ modeled: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control
These are the things I want to model and teach my child.
No spankings necessary.

1 comment:

  1. Yes you said that exactly how I think it. I've been wanting to write a blog post about discipline and what we believe but I can't get my words out right!

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