Old Testament reading: Proverbs 22-24
“Train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). Many godly, faithful parents have been beat up with this text, or tortured their own souls with it when their child has gone astray. As we said from the outset of this book (Day 236), proverbs are truisms, rules of thumb, sayings that generally bear themselves out to be accurate. They are not hard and fast rules. By way of reminder, God was the first father, and his first two children (Adam and Eve) went astray (Gen 3). There’s not a shred of biblical evidence that they ever lived faithfully before God after they were expelled from the Garden of Eden. Not one positive word is associated with Adam or Eve throughout the remainder of the biblical text. Now we ask the questions… Was this God’s fault? Did God go wrong with His children? Certainly not! This is the result of man exercising his free moral agency, which freedom he still has today. We can only do so much in raising our children. When they leave home, they are responsible for making their own decisions.
New Testament reading: 2 Corinthians 1-5
Will we be obedient in all things? 2 Corinthians 2:1-11 hearkens back to 1 Corinthians 5 and the withdrawal of fellowship (some might call it excommunication) from the brother who was caught up in a vile situation of fornication. After being put out of fellowship, he repented of his sin and desired to be restored. However, the church wasn’t sure what to do with him. Paul encourages the brethren to forgive their brother and confirm their love for him. All discipline, whether it be in the home or in the church, should be motivated by love and with the best intentions for the one entangled in error. Paul warned the church that unforgiveness was a device of the devil. Jesus spoke to this same truth in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:14-15. When I fail or refuse to forgive, I forfeit the forgiveness of God for my own sins and transgressions. The practice of church discipline has never been more needed than it is today! We are in a great battle with the Devil, and we cannot afford to lose a single soldier! Our diminishing army can be in large part contributed to our failure to be obedient in all things.
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