He is so beaten down that he has lost hope, he has lost motivation, he doesn’t care anymore. A discouraged child is one who has lost heart. Next we read, lest they become discouraged. There may be times when your children’s anger toward you is more righteous than your actions or attitude toward them. There are times when we so provoke our children, we so exasperate them, that anger is the fitting response. It may even be the right response if that anger is expressed in righteous ways. But I think we can go even a step further to say there are times when our children are justified in their anger toward us.
I’m sure you know this and I can assure you that they know this. I want to make an important application: Parents can cause their children to become angry and bitter. Parents must not provoke their children to anger. Here, of course, Paul is using it in a negative sense of stirring, exasperating, or irritating them toward anger or bitterness. Or from another angle, it is the kind of word you might use when you are getting your children all excited, chasing them around and tickling them until you provoke them to being all wound up. Provoke is the kind of word you might use when you kindle a fire into flame-you begin with something small and provoke it into a roaring fire. Both passages contain the same exhortation: Do not provoke, though Ephesians adds to anger. We are on good ground allowing the verse to speak equally to both parents.ĭo not provoke … to anger. Greek society was patriarchal so Paul addressed the mothers through the fathers. While it is fathers who are addressed here, most commentators acknowledge that it is fair to see these instructions as being written to both parents. The first word in both passages is Fathers. Sponsor Show Your Support Become a Patronįathers.
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