Raising Kids in the Age of Foolishness

There are enough fools in the world!

Raising Kids in the Age of Foolishness: Proceeding to the Penalty

Proverbs 22:3 – “A prudent person sees evil and hides himself, But the naive proceed, and pay the penalty.”

Obviously, the application of this verse is circumstantial. There are some circumstances where a prudent person will run into an evil situation to protect, defend, or rescue someone. In this case the prudent person discerns when to hide and when to respond. Perhaps we should view this admonition as participating in the evil that we see. What do we do when we see evil? This is the question that a parent must ask their child. When your child sees his friends making fun of someone, what does he do? When your child sees his friends sharing drugs with one another, what does he do? When your child sees his friends going into an immoral chat room, what does he do?

Notice two words in this verse. The word “proceeds” means “stepping over a line.” There are lines children must not cross. Take sexual involvement for instance. Touching and heavy kissing (we called it “making out”) can easily lead to a line that must not be crossed. There is a point of no return. Temptation builds and becomes increasingly strong. The resistance to sin becomes increasingly difficult. Imagine holding a brick in your outstretched hand. First you can easily hold it up. But as time goes on your muscles get fatigued, and your arms begin to sag, and you drop the brick. Jospeh knew how this worked in the situation with Potipher’s wife. He did not hang around to try to reason with the temptress. He knew that at some point he would not be able to resist her advances. This is the point; temptation increases in strength the longer we engage with it. James tells us that sin begins with a desire inside of us, which can turn into sin, and leads to death. As we discussed in the last blog post, there is time to pause. Parents must teach their children where the lines are and then back them up a few steps from the line, so they do not accidentally step over it. I stood on the edge of the Grand Canyon. I could easily see where the line between awe and death was. I chose not to stand on the edge but backed up a few feet from it to not stumble over it. That is prudence.

The other word is “penalty.” Literally it can mean a fine. A couple of years ago I followed a school bus through a left-hand turn at an intersection. Because of the height of the bus, I could not see the light. It was red. The camera saw me, took a picture, sent it to me in the mail, and levied a hefty fine for crossing a line I should not have crossed. Hindsight tells me that you don’t proceed through an intersection until you know what color the light is. If I had been more prudent, I would have stayed back away from the bus to be able to see the light. Busted. I got off easy. What if I had been in the intersection when a mac truck was coming from the other way? Here is the point: once your child steps over the line he does not get to determine the penalty. That sexual encounter in the backseat of a car might lead to a sexually transmitted disease, a daddy with a shotgun, an unintended pregnancy, or worse.