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"I love you. I just don't like you today," said one very frustrated mother. A very hurt daughter began to sob. I felt my stomach turn. The mother was a friend of mine; a woman who loved her daughter deeply and yet had no idea that her choice of words where crushing her child. I sat contemplating words of wisdom given to me from some wise, yet forgotten mentor: "Love the sinner, hate the sin." Applied to parenting, it translates into: "Love the child, disapprove of the action." In other words: separate the two issues. "I love you. I just REALLY don't like what you did today." Words such as these would have been much clearer and kinder. Loving the sinner while hating the sin is God's way. We are to exemplify God's love to our children. If our children cannot believe that we love them in spite of their mistakes and failures, how can they believe a Holy God can? Colossians 3:12 "...put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you." Shari Weigerstorfer is a free-lance Christian writer, native to the West Coast of America. When not indulging in her passion for travel, she writes from her home in Switzerland. Other articles by Shari can be found on her site at Faithwriters.com.
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