The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…
Well, now they were both crying. I had the younger brother in my lap—he was curled up in a ball, sobbing into my shirt—and, clinging to my arm, the older brother implored me with tears not to send for his father. I had been trying to teach them the passage in Corinthians about how love was super important. While I was doing this the bigger brother sat on his sibling, squishing him into the wall. Such is life.
It struck me, witnessing the change as it came over the older brother. He had been strutting like a bird, refusing to apologize. So, I told one of the other children to go get the dad. Instantly, the older brother fell at my side weeping, begging me not to tell on him.
Some people may look at this apology as shallow, self-interested, insincere. On a level, it was. But even so, once that threat was there, the two brothers could reconcile. On the same level, when people try to strip Christianity of punishment, when it becomes what C. S. Lewis referred to as Christianity and water, they take away an equalizing element that fosters repentance.
Read the full story here: The Beginning
Tale Told 