THE VINEDRESSER CAREFULLY PRUNES HIS VINES

Proverbs 3:12 says, “For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.”

Fathers, this Scripture does not say we should find delight in disciplining our children, but rather, we should discipline when needed because we love and delight in our children. If we do not discipline, they will certainly not give us, or others, any real delight.

If grape vines are not cultivated and properly cared for they soon become wild and spoiled. So it is with our children. Without a caring and cultivating father and mother, they also become wild and spoiled. Grape vines need to be carefully pruned in order to produce bigger and better grapes.

Pruning must be accomplished by someone who knows what they are doing; otherwise the vine will be seriously damaged. So it is with pruning (disciplining) our children. All discipline should be implemented without anger. A vineyard owner would not trust the pruning of his choice vines to the cutting shears of a man who was angry with the grape vines. That would be too risky. So it is with children. We can so easily damage them by disciplining in anger.

We must take control of all anger before we discipline. Many children grow up with bad attitudes, hatred and rebellion because the father disciplined in anger. On the other hand, we must not allow the vines to grow without pruning because of fear of losing control as this will also have damaging effects on the children’s character.

Insufficient healthy discipline is a problem of our times and the vines are becoming increasingly wilder, but the end results of godly discipline are the “peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (Hebrews 12:9).

Be encouraged as you tend to your vine. Colin Campbell

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