Get your stinkin’ hands off my bike!

The sermon at church this Sunday was honed in on disciplining our children. The Bible is very clear that children should be disciplined, and in fact states that if one is unwilling to administer punishment, (including corporal punishment), then it goes as far to declare that you “hate” your child. I am convinced that my father indeed loved me as he did not “spare the rod”, and routinely lovingly administered corporal punishment.

In fairness, I was not some perfect little angel and more often than not I needed more, and not less, punishment. I remember one time as a youngster practicing my artistic skills by carving a bar of soap with a knife. My attempt was not very successful in producing a highly acclaimed work of art; however it was extremely successful in creating one huge mess, (which I left for someone else to cleanup). When my mother got home and discovered the mess, she asked my brother and me which one of us did it. I lied and said I did not do it, and of course my brother who was innocent declared his innocence.

My mother left the mess for my father to see later when he got home. When he arrived she showed him the mess and promptly worked him into a rage about it, and when neither of us would admit to it, his solution was to whip us both. He whaled away on us and then stopped for a moment and again asked which one of us had done it. We both denied it again, and this time he whaled away on us with “conviction”. It was a very effective strategy, as this time I was truly “convicted” to confess and tearfully administered my “Mia culpa”.

The beating stopped and I will never forget my father apologizing to my brother and then shaking hands with him. (Poor guy Don’t waste too much sympathy on him, he got me more whippings than I can remember.) Then my father turned to me with a menacing dark look on his face and muttered something about lying and beat the living daylights out of me, not stopping until he could barely swing. Whew!

That lesson proved to be extremely valuable to me. It taught me that there are serious consequences to lying; in fact those consequences are worse than just admitting to my wrongdoing and accepting my punishment in the first place. Had I just said, “Oh I’m sorry mom, I did it, I will clean it up right now”. I would have been off the hook and probably would have received a homemade cookie and some warm milk, but no, I had to look her right in the eye and without flinching lie through my teeth. After that beating those days were over.


In fact today I take great pride in the fact that my word is my bond. Years later as a father I passed this on to my children, and to this day to my knowledge they will not lie to me or anyone and will readily admit their mistakes, (including serious mistakes); even if they know they will have to accept some consequences. I attribute this characteristic as being essential to having integrity and solid character. In part anyway, this worthy belief system can be attributed all of the way back to my childhood and parental lessons of love.

I used to tell my boys that no matter what they had done and how severe the consequences would be as a result, it would not be near as bad for them as simply admitting their mistakes and accepting their consequence as compared to lying about it and having to deal with the consequences of the lying dimension on top of the original problem’s consequence. In other words lying about it “always” makes it worse, no matter what you have done!

Our pastor told us of witnessing a little child riding a three wheeler. This little kid was pedaling hard and heading to the road and his terrified mother ran out and grabbed his bike in an attempt to keep him out of the dangerous road. This little tyke screamed at his mother, “Get your stinking hands off my bike!” The mother instantly recoiled and did exactly as instructed by the four year old.

Did she love this little guy or hate him? What loving mother would not teach this little brat in no uncertain terms that he needed to stay out of the dangerous road in order that he would not get squashed like a bug under the wheels of an eighteen wheeler roaring down the road?

Mamas don’t let your babies grow up to be undisciplined brats! And children love your parents for loving you enough to teach you right from wrong. Remember, ACLU “timeouts” not withstanding, this concept is modeled by God and is the same approach that he uses when raising us, (His little, not so innocent children, that He loves with all of His heart).

Proverbs 3:11
My son do not despise the
chastening of the lord,
Nor detest His correction;
For whom the Lord loves He
corrects,
Just as a father the son in
whom he delights.