Not So Quickly

“A man of great wrath will pay the penalty, for if you deliver him, you will only have to do it again,” (Proverbs 19:19, ESV).

When I lived in California, I knew of some teenagers who were caught in possession of drugs. It was, you can imagine, a traumatic time for their parents. How should they handle the situation?

Some parents were apt to defend their boys. One parent, in deep denial, kept repeating the words: “Not our son! Our son would never do a thing like this.” One parent turned to another with an accusation: “If he hadn’t been with your kid, he wouldn’t have done this!”

But one father made a difficult and memorable decision. He asked the police to hold his son in jail that night. It may have been the most difficult decision of that father’s life. However, what may have seemed a severe punishment, was in fact a valuable lesson for the young man. He never took drugs again.

Sometimes people have to “pay the penalty” for their mistakes; that’s the only way they will learn! Children — and adults — who never suffer the consequences of their actions will become convinced that they are entitled to do whatever they want, to break any rules, for they have never suffered for their mistakes.

Sometimes it’s best not to rescue them too quickly; you will only have to do it again.

–by Stan Mitchell