If any man inflicts a permanent injury on his neighbor, whatever he has done is to be done to him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Whatever injury he inflicted on the person, the same is to be inflicted on him. Whoever kills an animal is to make restitution for it, but whoever kills a person is to be put to death. Leviticus 24:19–21
One of the necessary responsibilities of being a good dad is disciplining your children. And one of the most important things to remember about issuing dis- cipline is that the punishment must be fair. Make sure the penalty fits the infraction.
I was eleven and my brother, Ken, was thirteen. We had to run an errand for my mother and were about to ride into town on our bikes when we decided to ask if we could take our brother and sister, who were twins, along. Debbie and Dan were only three, and we loved to have them ride on our bicycles. They’d sit, sidesaddle, on the bar between the seat and handlebar—an incredibly uncomfortable and precarious position, now that I think about it—and hold onto the handlebars.
Anyway, we asked my mother if we could take the twins along with us on our trip into town. She said no. We begged. She said no again. We begged some more. She reluctantly acquiesced. Well, as you know, parents have an uncanny sense of things like impending danger.
Before we got to downtown Wheaton, Debbie’s foot got caught in Ken’s front wheel spokes. Dan and I were scooting along when it dawned on me that Ken wasn’t close by. I stopped, turned around, and saw his bicycle and Debbie lying on the street. I panicked out of concern for my sister. Then I panicked again, realizing that we had coerced my mother into letting us bring the kids along. I knew that some kind of punishment was absolutely inevitable.
A kind motorist saw what had happened and offered to drive Debbie to Dr. Wyn- egarden’s office. There were no broken bones, but the treatment and medication cost nineteen dollars. Our punishment was to pay the doctor’s bill with our own money. As a result, Ken and I started a car-washing business, charging one dollar for a regular car, with twenty-five cents extra for whitewalls. If you don’t remember whitewalls, check your local classic car display some Friday night.
I suppose our mother could have spanked us, grounded us, or taken away some privileges. But as I have reflected on what she did, the punishment was a perfect match to the offense. We begged for the responsibility to take the twins, and we got some: responsibility for picking up the doctor tab as our consequence. As Ken and I washed cars, inching toward our nineteen-dollar goal, we talked about how foolish we had been to push our mother, how fortunate we were that Debbie’s injury wasn’t more severe, and how careful we would be in the future. We also had such fun with our business that we stayed with it. The cars in our neighborhood were cleaner than any in our whole town. The whitewalls were white.
Today’s Bible passage sends a simple message: be sure punishment is fair. Make certain it matches the crime. If it does, it will be memorable. Don’t be guilty of over-reacting to your children or your employee’s offense because it has embarrassed you or, for some reason, made you angry. Take a moment to pray for wisdom—you want to be certain that what you do creates a memory for your child, or your colleague, that addresses the heart of their behavior. If all they remember is you throwing a fit, they’ll probably forget what they did to set you off.
Being a good leader requires you to be a sound and fair disciplinarian. When you ask Him, God can equip you to do that well.