woman loved him more than self-righteous Simon.
(^) You must apply the same methodology to your children’s needs.
You must get to the root issues by dealing with the conscience.
Romans 2:14–15 indicates that the conscience is your ally in teaching
your children to understand their sin. The conscience within man is
always either excusing or accusing. If you make your appeal there,
you avoid making correction a contest between you and your child.
Your child’s controversy is always with God.
(^) Dealing with children in this way avoids giving them a keepable
standard so that they feel smug and righteous. They are faced with
God’s ways and how much they need the radical, renovating work of
Christ.
(^) When your child has come (by the work of the Holy Spirit and the
exercise of the means God has ordained for nurturing children) to see
his sinfulness, you must point him to Jesus Christ, the only Savior of
humankind.
(^) Strive to help your child, who is a selfish sinner, see his need of
Christ’s grace and mercy in the cross. Dealing with the child’s clamor
to have the toy first (especially if we have been willing to make “Who
had it first?” the issue) without addressing the selfish heart from
which it flows, will never lead him to the cross.
(^) Dealing with the real issues of the heart opens the way continually
to the cross where forgiveness is found for twisted, warped, and sinful
boys and girls. Truly Christian responses cannot be produced
legalistically because they deal with attitudes, not just with the
external behavior.
Developing Character
(^) It is important to address the heart and appeal to the conscience
because of the concern with character development during these
middle years of the child’s life. Character could be defined as living
consistently with who God is and who I am.