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The Need for Proper Punishment
Proverbs 29:15
"The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame."
One of the hardest things a parent or an authority has to do is to administer punishment. Any loving parent or authority will admit that they don't enjoy having to administer punishment when it is needed. However, without punishment a child will bring shame to those who care for them. You can either do the hard thing by punishing the child when they do wrong, or you can carry heartache for many years because you avoided the punishment.
True love will punish when a child does wrong. The reason is because punishment teaches. Notice in the verse above God says, "The rod and reproof give wisdom:..." The wisdom that punishment gives is that there are consequences in doing wrong. You cannot do wrong without paying the price. If you as a parent or authority choose not to administer the needed punishment, then you will suffer more embarrassment later.
Punishment that is just follows the rules by the letter of the law. Often you hear authority say that we need to love the one who wronged and try to restore them. To this I agree, but the best way to love the one who has done wrong is to punish them to the degree that the rules state. When an authority doesn't follow the rules of punishment they set up, then they are teaching the child that they can get away with doing wrong. This is not a good lesson to teach a child for this will embolden them to do wrong in a greater way the next time because you taught them that they can get away with it.
If you are an authority, let me beg you to properly administer the punishment that is prescribed when someone does wrong. It teaches the one who did the wrong that they will not be able to get away with disobedience. If you really want to restore someone, then the best way to restore them is to teach them that there are consequences to every action. No, it won't always be easy to administer punishment, but by doing the hard thing of punishing you are saving that person from heartache down the road.
Parents, you must also learn to have consequences for your children when they do wrong. If you let your children get away with doing wrong, then they will break your heart later in life. Be careful about trying to blame someone else for your child's wrong, for this teaches them that they can get away with sin. Even if someone did influence your child to do wrong, they still did wrong. By administering punishment, you are teaching your child that whether they were the instigator of the wrong or simply influenced to do wrong, that punishment always happens when they do wrong.
Love is tough at times. True love will teach followers that they cannot get away with wrong by properly punishing them. Always remember, if you let the follower skirt the rules of punishment, then you will embolden them to do worse the next time. Do the right thing by punishing according to the prescribed punishment and save them from greater punishment later on. It is better to be embarrassed now by having to go through the punishment that will end than to have to live with a life-long punishment. You can stop great heartache now by administering punishment is the "small" wrongs so they will learn that there are consequences to every action.