Today, we have a question every parent must answer for themselves, how do I not exasperate

my children?

It's today's question from a young dad, a new dad named Matt.

He writes, hello, Pastor John, thank you for taking my question today.

Colossians 321 warns, fathers, do not imbiter your children.

That's the NIV or do not provoke your children, that's the ESV and King James version or

do not exasperate your children, that's the home in Bible.

We are to avoid imbitering or provoking or exasperating our children, so they do not become

discouraged.

So what does it look like for a father to imbiter his children?

This text seems super important to me as a new dad, and at the same time, super abstract.

What would this look like, Pastor John?

Well, I've given a lot of thought to this question recently because I've been working

my way through Colossians and looked at the book, and so let me see if I can hold down

my enthusiasm for 10 minutes or so here.

Let's put the text in front of us with enough context to make sure we can get this dad

in the right frame of mind.

Wives, I'm starting at verse 18 of Colossians 3, wives submit to your husbands as is fitting

in the Lord, husbands love your wives and do not be harsh with them.

Children, obey your parents in everything for this pleases of the Lord, fathers do not

provoke your children or imbiter your children, unless they become discouraged.

Now the reason I give that much context for verse 21, which says fathers do not provoke

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