Spare the Rod and Evil Pursues Sinners

Today I read Proverbs 13 and a couple of phrases stood out to me.  The first one was from verse 24, "he that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes".  We have talked in depth in the past of how to not discipline ones child is actually not love and if we truly loved our children, we would discipline them and help them grow up to be a productive member of society.  Now that I am a parent, I understand how hard it can be to be consistent with discipline and how you have to have a very strong will in order to discipline your child when they are crying and upset, but if you want them to be good men and women when they grow up, it is what is needed.  I also like that all cultures and times understood this concept and it seems only in our day and time have we gotten away from disciplining our children.  Now to be clear, you can discipline your children without spanking or other physical punishments.  We do not spank our daughter and she is very mindful most of the time.

The second phrase that caught my attention was "Evil pursueth sinners".  Contrary to what I hear most people saying out loud, God does not sit around thinking up punishments for us or giving us trials at all times.  Most of our trials actually come from our own poor decisions.  If we choose to do drugs, we will have poor health, most likely fall into a life of theft and crime, and will most likely incur the ire and wrath of other sinners who might eventually kill us.  If we choose to engage in adultery, we will break our families and possibly have diseases rack our bodies that otherwise we might be able to avoid.  But if we live a good and righteous life, we will be able to avoid most of these pitfalls and we can be confident that any trials that come our way are only that, trials meant to help us grow.  We reap what we sow, if we spend our days doing good deeds and trying to do what is right, then we will have good returned to us, if not in this life then for sure in the life to come.  And if we want to avoid the worst pitfalls in this life, we need to keep the commandments, our guideline for a happy life.  Until tomorrow.