March 22

Withhold not correction from the child. ... Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell. — Prov 23:13-14

Some parents and teachers have such gentle hearts that they cannot bear to correct a child lest they cause it pain.

They forget that to leave in a child’s heart an uncorrected fault, or to allow to grow up in its life unchecked any wrong tendency, is the greatest unkindness they could possibly do the child. To leave the roots of weeds growing in the garden among the flowers, is to insure the springing up of those weeds, by and by, to mar the beauty of the garden.

Any one should be glad to have a fault pointed out – not glad that the fault is there, but that it is now known, so that it may be put away. We should always deal with our discovered faults relentlessly. Even the right hand should be cut off, or the right eye plucked out, in order that the soul may be saved.

Nor should any tender feeling ever prevent a parent or a teacher from trying to correct a fault in a child. Love must always seek the best.