Ginger Hubbard

They need us to help drive the foolishness out of their hearts and replace that foolishness with wisdom.

And so a lot of times we tend to coddle their emotions, but we're sacrificing that on the altar of really training them to have self-control with their emotions, to learn how to process their emotions and to rightly respond to their emotions in a way that

that's going to benefit them and people around them, going to benefit them for life.

And so we don't need to be afraid to bring our children up in the discipline instruction of the Lord, because if we don't do that, that's an injustice to our kids.

Like I said, we always want to get past that outward behavior and help our children understand that it is the sins of the heart that drives that outward behavior.

When my kids were little, I remember being shocked by some of the things that would come out of their mouths and some of the things that they would do.

And I would ask that question that so many parents ask today, why do you act like that?

But after a closer look at the Word of God, I began to realize I was asking the wrong question.

In Romans, it says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

And in Matthew 12, 34, Jesus said, for the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

In other words, there's merit to that old saying, what's down in the well comes up in the bucket.

Our sin does not begin with our mouths or our actions.

It begins with our words.

And it starts a whole lot sooner than we might think.

King David proclaimed, And so when parents really just begin to grasp just the origin of sin and the total depravity of the human nature in general, we no longer have to question why our children sin.

So,

I began to learn, instead of saying, why does my child sin?

I would ask, when my child sins, how might I point him to the fact that he is a sinner in need of a Savior, just like I am?

How can I really help him understand and live in the transformational power of Christ?

So that is why we want to get past that outward behavior and help our children recognize what is going on in their hearts.