The Heart of Human Behavior

We as women bear children. Children are the gift of God.  Parents are charged to train up the child in the way the child should go.  Every parent knows that the behavior of a child soon displays unpleasant actions.  No one has to teach a child to tell a lie!

Today we will consider the behavior of a child.  Does the child display bad behavior as a result of external influences or from inside the heart of the child?  What does the Holy Bible teach?

Look with me at Proverbs 4 verse 23.  ”Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.”  Consider also the words of Jesus found in Mark 7 verses 20 through 23.  “And He was saying, "That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man.  For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness.  All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man." Also consider Luke 6 verse 45. “The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.”

  We read in James 4 verses one through three.  “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?  You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.  You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.”

Contrary to much popular teaching, environmental factors do not produce the evil and wrong actions.  Rather, the issue is the heart from conception.  Psalm 51 verse 5 contains David’s confession of his sin. “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.”

We will be sharing truths from the book, Shepherding A Child’s Heart, by Tedd Tripp. 

The basic issue is never simply the external behavior.  We must look at the heart issues underlying unacceptable behavior.  Parents must discipline their children by asking the questions needed to help the child identify the attitude of the heart that has resulted in the wrong behavior.

All behavior is linked to attitudes of the heart. Therefore discipline must speak to the heart attitudes.

Here is a common example of wrong behavior.  Your home has two or more children.  A fight starts over a particular toy or possession of one child.  Generally, the parent asks: Who had it first?  This question misses the heart issue.  Justice will rule in favor of who had it first.  However, at the heart level, BOTH children are displaying selfishness.  I don’t care about your happiness.  I want what I want.  I will put my happiness as more important than yours.

As parents we need to learn how to help the child to see his or her sin, to see the need of a new heart which comes only as one sees the need for a Savior.  We point the child to the cross and the gospel which is the power of salvation. 

Let’s begin to look to the Scriptures regarding these two issues that affect our children:
1. The child’s relationship to the shaping influences in his life.

2.  The child’s relationship to God.