Mercy and Truth from Parents (Proverbs 16:6)

By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil. (Proverbs 16:6)

Raising children is probably one of the most difficult tasks in life.  An innate tendency in all children is to follow the dictates of their flesh that they inherited from their fathers. It seems that much of child raising addresses these issues.  Throughout the years, many child raising techniques have been developed which have gained their host of followers.  Some people experience success implementing principles for child raising while others who employ the same techniques have failed miserably.  What most people fail to recognize is that success in child raising  is based on mercy and truth and not so much child raising techniques or training methods.

Mercy occurs when an alternative method for dealing with a person and their sin is employed instead of judgment and retribution.  While truth is the principle that needs to be developed in a person's life.  Many people while child raising fail to apply these two essential elements to their plan.  Instead, they react in an array of emotions that at best are nonproductive and in some cases sinful.

The two most common emotions displayed by parents while correcting or disciplining their children are anger and fear.  If mercy and truth produce desirable fruit, anger and fear will produce their own fruit which is usually the root problem in struggling families.  The reason that anger and fear occur is because the parents focus on themselves and their own needs instead of their children's needs.  Parental correction becomes the management of children problems which appear either to cause public embarrassment or parental failure.  As long as the parents continue to focus on these, mercy will never be present.  However, when parents truly focus on their children's needs, mercy becomes the mode by which truth is communicated and training principles are employed.