Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

A rod and a reprimand impart wisdom,
    but a child left undisciplined disgraces its mother.
When the wicked thrive, so does sin,
    but the righteous will see their downfall.
Discipline your children, and they will give you peace;
    they will bring you the delights you desire.
Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint;
    but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction.
Servants cannot be corrected by mere words;
    though they understand, they will not respond.
Do you see someone who speaks in haste?
    There is more hope for a fool than for them.
A servant pampered from youth
    will turn out to be insolent.

• Proverbs 29:15-21

Proverbs 29:18 ” Mean Joe Greene, one of my teammates on the Pittsburgh Steelers, told me about the time he was ready to quit. The team had been losing, so one day in 1972 he cleaned out his locker and headed for the airport. One of the Steelers’ coaches persuaded him to return, but his story illustrates one of the challenges of leadership: keeping everyone on the team focused on and committed to the vision and mission through thick and especially thin.
“It’s easy to lose sight of the goal-or to lose heart in trying to reach it-but occasional reminders can help.
“Whether with our personal goals or as leaders of others, we must always keep the vision out front and readily accessible. It’s easy to put our heads down and forget why we do what we do, but keeping our eyes on the prize can keep us going. This is especially important when circumstances are bleak and discouragement sets in, but it’s also true when things are going well and complacency sets in. Both situations tempt us to lose our focus. But when we remember where we’re headed, we tend to get there much more often.”

• Tony Dungy with Nathan Whitaker, Uncommon Life – Daily Challenge (excerpt from devotion for 25 August)

The Message

In a mirthful look at Tony Dungy’s last statement, if we do not know where we are headed, how do we know when we have gotten there?  And for those wondering, the Pittsburgh Steelers won four Super Bowls in the 1970s: 74, 75, 78, and 79.  All four with Mean Joe Greene, so he had to keep focused on the goal for only a couple more years.

After Dr. Benjamin Spock wrote his books, the world has tended to turn away from corporal punishment.  About two-thirds of the states in the United States have laws against corporal punishment, or striking a child as part of punishment.  While studies show corporal punishment to be less effective than other forms of punishment, we have to look at the type of people who are in those studies.  Some children need to redirect their attention before they can learn.  And children will focus on wrong behavior if they realize that non-corporal punishment is in some cases not punishment at all.  They may love time out.  I know one person who was placed in a chair in the corner until he apologized.  While in the chair, he imagined that he was the king of all he surveyed.  When released from the chair, he fought to get back on the chair, for he had lost his kingdom.  Sending a child to their room where there is a hundred ways to be amused is not punishment at all.  It means that the others cannot play with their toys.  Ask teachers since corporal punishment has been taken from schools is school discipline is worse, and most teachers would admit that in many inner-city schools especially, the teacher needs a bodyguard (my understanding of discussions with many teachers from many states, some being relatives, most church friends).

But in reading this verse, we could change the word “rod” to affective discipline in general.  Without boundaries and consequences for exceeding boundaries, a child will disgrace their mother.  Tie to that past proverbs where rejecting discipline leads to the mother being disgraced (vv. 1:8; 10:1, 15:20; 17:25; 20:20).  This comment refers to Proverbs 29:15, 17, and to an extent verses 19 and 21.  Verse 21 refers to a pampered servant.  These verses apply in either case, regardless of whether the servant is punished or dismissed without pay.  I have seen employees test the rules to the point of being fired.  Why?  They gained nothing by breaking the rules.

When the wicked rule the day, sin will abound, but it is just for a short time.  The wicked will pay for their sin.

Have you ever had that private sin where you thought you got away with it, but then your secret was discovered?  If there is the potential of that happening, would you ever dabble in what some might call a gray area or would you stick to the straight and narrow just in the fear of possibly getting “outed,” or as Proverbs 29:18 states “a revelation”.

Considering speaking in haste, my last employment was with an engineering company.  I taught people how to operate the equipment in a steel mill or an aluminum mill.  In carelessly ignoring certain rules, some people have been killed.  Thus, when I was asked a question in class, I had to know what the correct answer was, or I could lead someone to believe that they had a legitimate shortcut.  I had an assistant instructor blatantly tell the class the opposite of what they were supposed to do.  After five or six times of me interrupting him and correcting what was told to the class, he shouted, “They know what I meant to say!  I just got it backwards!”  But the point was, their employer was paying us a lot of money (not that we got more than our regular salary) to teach them the right way, not the wrong way.  And you never knew when someone in class was actually paying attention to you.  I know the concern in Proverbs 29:20.  There is more hope for a fool than for someone who makes a hasty remark that gets someone else into a fatal accident.

And now let us sing.

The following song is God Help Me.  This is sung by Unspoken.  I have used this song a couple of times.

Closing Prayer

Dear Lord,
We need Your wisdom.  Help us to value wisdom.  Lord, whether a servant or a child, we should understand that discipline is for our own good to make us better.  And for the employer or parent, we need to understand the discipline should be for the purpose of correcting and improving behavior.  Wisdom is needed on both sides.  We need wisdom’s instructions, and we need to heed those instructions.  And whenever we instruct, help us to realize that a careless word might get someone injured.  And Lord, we see the wicked in this world get ahead, but You are our sovereign God.  They will not get ahead for long.  In thy Name we pray.
Amen

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.