“Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS.” For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that” (Hebrews 4:6-8).

So many times we Christians cling to what we believe is Biblical truth when it’s not. If we choose not to question things we are taught, today, as the above verse says, we’ll miss out and our hearts will become hardened. That is scary to me, and I have been guilty of hardening my heart against God’s Truth. I thought I was remaining “firm in the Lord” when I was actually drifting from Him. What freedom I’ve felt when I humbled myself to Him and dug deeper into His actual Word to see Truth.

If you are a punitive parent, I encourage you to open your heart to God’s Truth. The God Who chose to come to Earth as Jesus to die for all of humanity’s sins. Please pay closer attention to Jesus’s actual teachings. Hone in on the Holy Spirit.

Imagine beginning to truly connect with your children and heal your relationships with them. The more we see our children as human beings, the more we understand that they have very real needs. By meeting those needs, many “behavior issues” can be resolved.

Also, imagine drawing closer to God as you learn to truly hear His voice which is the Holy Spirit in us.  1 John 4:1-2 states, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.” God expects us to make sure we are really following Him. We cannot afford to simply take man’s word for it no matter how educated and godly that man seems to be.

Let’s do our best to follow after Christ and the Truth in all that we do. After all, Jesus said, “The Truth shall set you free.”