Make Discipline A Delight – The Fifth Commandment

Make Discipline a Delight

The fifth commandment

Exodus 20.12; Deuteronomy 5.16

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.”

Ephesians 6.4

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

Kids can learn spiritual disciplines if we teach them.

Paul says that children learn to be responsible Kingdom citizens through the discipline they learn from their parents. Hmmm. How will they learn that? By our insisting they stay in their room to read their Bibles and pray for 15 minutes every day (Danger: exasperation ahead)? How can we help our children delight in reading the Bible and praying? Susie and I rejoiced recently as we watched our son, Kevin, lead family devotions. We were amazed at how rapt the kids were as he read the story. But there was no magic here. Kevin would read a little, then stop and ask a question, giving each child an opportunity to respond. Then he would heartily affirm them before going on to the next segment. If a child broke into his reading, wanting to make a comment or recall something from yesterday’s devotional, he simply stopped and let them talk, even if they rambled on for a few minutes. Then back to the reading. Finally, when it came time to pray, everybody prayed – even autistic Joey. Our grandchildren see in their moms and dads – Kevin and Amy and Kristy and Andy – a sincerity, even an earnestness about knowing the Lord. Family devotions are a joy and a delight, and that experience as young children may well translate into the kind of adult disciplines that will contribute to real growth in the Lord.

When the children at church see us in prayer, or in Sunday school class or worship, do they get the impression that we are delighting in these disciplines? What does your demeanor at church say to the children of the congregation?

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“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.