While this is a passage that is no doubt controversial in our culture, it is a passage that is centered on hope. Why does the Bible exhort us to discipline our children? It is through the mercy of discipline and instruction, that we give our children a hopeful future. This is where the controversy splits to primarily two opposite extremes. The first extreme is that the hope for our children is found in nurturing and fostering their self-esteem, so that they can grow to accept and love themselves just the way they are. The reality here is that children learn to re-frame their flaws through a positive spin and expect that everyone accept everything about them as being good, because they are supposedly good (don’t roll your eyes too long, chances are, you struggle with this type of mid-set too) . The other extreme, is the idea that we can spank wisdom into our children. It is worth noting that when the Bible speaks of chastening, while spanking is part of that word, the word is actually indicating that instruction is taking place. With that being said, if we think we are being faithful simply because we spank our children, we need to think again. The hope is that our children will grow wise through our discipline, not scared, bitter, or indifferent. This is not a free pass for us to domineeringly strive to break our children’s will so that they comply with our will in every area of life. This is an opportunity for one sinner to instruct another sinner about the dangers of sin and rebellion along with the value of wisdom and obedience to God. It is also a good opportunity to begin to discuss the gospel with our children. Our ultimate hope is that our children are brought to a place in which they see their need for the mercies of Christ.