This thought has been knocking around in my head for a month or so now. Mr. OverKill and I have always tried to require our children to obey the first time. I say try, because I am human. I get tired of chasing children around making sure that they have obeyed the first time. Sometimes, it’s just easier to remind them of what they are supposed to be doing, than to follow through with some type of discipline. It’s definitely a challenging job!
Recently, someone told me that they felt that requiring their children to obey the first time was too legalistic. Which made me think…is it????
So I had to go back to the drawing board. Why is it that we discipline our children in the first place? Well, number one (duh) because several times in Scripture, we are told to.
He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him. –Proverbs 13:24
Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him. – Proverbs 22:15
Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die. -Proverbs 23:13
The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother. -Proverbs 29:15
Correct your son, and he will give you rest; yes; he will give delight to your soul. -Proverbs 29:17
Second, I believe that as parents, we are teaching our children to obey us, so that as they grow and mature, they will know how to obey God. We are their tangible example (albeit a poor one) of God’s authority in their lives.
So, here is the question that I keep coming back to, doesn’t God require first time obedience? If we have sinned once, that makes us unfit for heaven. God didn’t tell Adam and Eve not to eat the forbidden fruit and the stand by to “remind” them every five minutes. He didn’t say, “When I count to three, your hand had better be off that tree.” He expected that they would obey him, the first time! When they didn’t, he followed through with the consequence that He had laid before them when He gave the directions. There was no second chance!
And so, if this is God’s standard, shouldn’t it be ours?