Daily Devotional
Guiding A Child To Repent

April 30, 2018

When a child disobeys his parents, do you know what that child has done? He has sinned against God. It's not primarily against a parent that he's sinned, he's sinned against God. It's a direct result of breaking one of the Ten Commandments, “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee” (Exodus 20:12).

When a child has disobeyed, the parent needs to help that child understand repentance toward God. The parent can say, “Listen, my heart is broken because God doesn't want us to behave that way. More importantly, you have sinned against God.” Here is where many parents fail in disciplining a child. Parents need to remember to work to help that child renew his or her relationship with God.

Now, parents must be careful at this point because they are not the Holy Spirit! They can pray for repentance in that child's heart and help to lead that child to repentance, but the Holy Spirit does the work. And after the child is convicted and repents, parents need to show love—give the child a hug, kiss away the tears, and send them out to play.