PROVOKING CHILDREN TO LOVE GOD

So many times I have heard two of my children fighting, then wrongfully scolded one child when it was the other who was at fault. So many times have I had to apologize to my children for being wrong, for having jumped the gun and made a wrong decision because I didn't take the time to analyze the situation.

Ephesians 6:4 says "Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Our job as parents is to love and discipline our children the way God loves and disciplines us. We need to make sure we judge them rightly, as much as humanly possible. We need to apologize to them when we are wrong. Our children will form opinions about God through our behavior. When we discipline them, are they seeing how God would discipline them? We want them to see God through us. We want them to grow up loving the God we love.