Raising Kids in the Age of Foolishness

There are enough fools in the world!

Raising Kids in the Age of Foolishness: Clever or Teachable

Proverbs 19:25 – “Strike a scoffer and the naive may become clever, But rebuke one who has understanding, and he will gain knowledge.”

Remember that scoffers and the naïve person are often interchangeable terms in Proverbs. They are at least close friends. Imagine a naïve person observing a scoffer being punished for his scoffing. Perhaps they lose their job for an inappropriate post, or they are defriended for not taking a matter seriously. The naïve person sees this, doesn’t learn his lesson from it, and simply becomes cleverer. The word “clever” is aram in Hebrew meaning to be shrewd or subtle. This statement can be taken in either a positive or negative light. Aram is a neutral word which can mean either tricky or crafty or prudent, learning the art of subtlety. I am taking it in a negative sense. For instance, a child may observe his scoffing friend getting into trouble for his sarcastic comments or actions. Instead of gaining some positive lesson from this, the naïve person learns to be more crafty or subtle, much like Satan in the garden. Clever can mean smooth. Romans 16:18 is a prime example. Paul warns the Roman church about such people who “by smooth talk and flattery deceive the minds of naïve people.” In my opinion this “craft” has been mastered in the political realm. There are a lot of smooth talkers in the world. They are dangerous people.

On the other hand, there are naïve people who are seeking understanding, when rebuked, gain knowledge. Do you see the difference? Parents must learn to distinguish between the positive and negative effects of rebuke on a child. Rebuke a cheater and he will either get better at cheating or stop cheating. Rebuke a divisive person and he will either get better at how he divides others, or he will learn to seek unity and peace. Rebuke a racist and he will either become more subtle in his racism, or he will repent and learn to love others.

Parents must discern the hearts of their children. Is the response a child is making in rebuke genuine or fake? Is repentance from worldly sorrow or godly sorrow? (2 Cor.7:14-15) Is a child growing wiser in a heavenly way from the rebuke or wiser in a worldly way from the rebuke. It may be hard to tell the difference at the point of the rebuke. A child’s words of sorry for their foolish words or actions may not be an expression of their hearts. They may simply be telling you what they think you want to hear without any real knowledge being gained. A parent’s job is not done at the point of the rebuke. A parent must determine if the child is just getting sneakier or getting the point of the rebuke. One last thing, parents must learn how to rebuke a child’s behavior without labeling a child in a way that the child thinks the behavior is a permanent mark of their identity. THERE ARE ENOUGH FOOLS IN THE WORLD.