The Antithesis Of Love

I read an interesting conversation on a social forum, started from a father posting his story about instructing our children, whose son got trapped in prickles, you know, those large green plants like gaping jaws, ripping into your feet and not letting go?
Yeah those.
So the dad took the opportunity to teach his son a lesson, while the son was being pierced by these sharp needles, withholding the son's shoes during his lecture. The child was in pain, and all he wanted was his shoes. The child would have said anything to get what he wanted yet the dad was eager to share his 'teaching opportunity' God provided with the world. The father I'm sure loves his son, I don't doubt this one bit, and the evidence leads me to believe his theology seems very works based so I'm not at all surprised by his response to his child's cries, or his misuse of what we know as grace. He refused to give the child his shoes until the child recited certain things back to him. Sort of like a catechism. At the end of the conversation, my heart was literally torn from my chest in grief, mercy does not exist is some households.  

We're taught that life is PAIN. Life is HARD. We're taught to grow a back bone and suck it up and it's just how it is. I'm not against that teaching for the most part, it does no one good to collapse under pressure or hide when things gets tough. My concern with this outlook being the only option is this:

Despair.

If your focus is teaching and preaching despair, who's going to listen after a while? Will this not cause people to lose hope? Will this not breed fear? If a person has no hope, but lots of fear why should they live? This kind of mentality usually ends up in rebellion and and the very worst, suicide. We can open a newspaper and see the devastating result of this message.
"Do or die."
"Only you can help yourself."
"Surround yourself only with people who have the same world view as you."
"No one is worth the effort."
"You deserve everything and it doesn't matter who you hurt in the process of achieving what you want."

See how wily Satan is?

No parent or parenting style is perfect, least of all mine. I'm learning as I go, leaning heavily on my spouse, his leadership and on God's grace and the Power of Christ Jesus, carried out by The Holy Spirit.

I do see the pendulum swinging too far to the other side, families with zero rules, neglecting to teach their children to respect authority, forgetting that children thrive on boundaries and as they mature the parameter of trust widens and spreads until one day they leave the nest...or that is the hope anyway; To grow individuals to maturity and capability of contributing to society? We do see the consequences of being too lenient out there, but we reap what we sow do we not?

We only have our own little ones for a short time. Let's use this time to point them to the love of Christ Jesus, and the beauty and wonder of God's earth and all that it offers. Let's focus our time cultivating the gifts and talents our children were born with, not scaring them into submission. Yes it's a big scary world out there, but teaching our children love and grace actually provides them with the tools desperately needed on this cursed earth. Producing people with the capacity to love no matter what gives hope to the lost!

When God gave His instructions to the Israelite people, it was to show a need for a Saviour, someone who could rescue us from the thorns of life and all that it demands in all it's merciless hateful drudgery. God's instructions for our life as His Creation is to promote love of Him and love of others. Unfortunately many of those who teach and practice Torah or 'Law' or works of any kind miss this beautiful truth. King David is a prime example of a sinner saved by grace and wrote many times of God's law:

Psalm 119:97-100 (ESV)

Mem

⁹⁷ Oh how I love your law!
    It is my meditation all the day.
⁹⁸ Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,
    for it is ever with me.
⁹⁹ I have more understanding than all my teachers,
    for your testimonies are my meditation.
¹⁰⁰ I understand more than the aged,^[a]
    for I keep your precepts.

David loved God's law with the love only those with the mind of Christ Jesus understand. We relish God's Word, we devour it and crave more. We don't view Scripture as a puzzle with missing pieces but instead see a complete and breathtaking picture of The Lord Jesus Christ who is the expressed nature of God's Law. 

If Christ Jesus is not the focal point the law is the antithesis of love.

We are called to be like Christ, 1 Peter 2:5, living and breathing testimony of God's abundant grace and mercy. Ephesians 2:3-5, 2:8-9, Psalm 45:2, Ex 33:19, Prov 28:13.

I'll leave you with the story, you can decide for yourself whether you agree with the dad's methods or message.

Remember, we are the light of the world, the greatest commandment is to Love God and Love others. Love is an action, saturated with Mercy and Grace. I've seen my own husband react to a similar situation and he was swift to help and heal before any instruction or reminder was given, when the child was clearly able to focus on the lesson instead of reacting through a threshold of pain. Pain offers nothing but more pain.

Hope offers everything.

*names have been changed 

>>>>>So my Son's friend comes in and asked where Bobbie's shoes were, so I asked where Bobbie was. 

He said "Bobbie is stuck in the yard in some thorns."

I walked outside and said, 

"Son, what is wrong?"

He said, "I am stuck in stickers and can't move, get my shoes it hurts."

So I patiently asked him, "How many times have we told you don't walk around outside without your shoes?"

He replied "Alot."

I said, "So the instruction was that you do not walk around in the yard without shoes, what is that?"

He said, "Torah Dad hurry it hurts."

I said, "So do you think you deserve me giving your shoes?" 

He said "No Dad, I am sorry."

I said, "What is that when you tell me you are sorry."

He replied, "Repentance dad, I really am sorry, please give me my shoes."

I then gave Him his shoes and asked, "What is that Son?"

He said, "That is Grace dad, I won't do it again."

"Even the simplest of opportunities that may cause the children a little pain will save them from hell, always use every opportunity to instruct your children." -The Father <<<<<