Renewing the Mind

Proverbs 13:24 - He that swarth his rod hateth his son: but that liveth him chasteneth him betimes There are some things that I have learned incorrectly, although I didn't know it at the time. An example of this is when I first learned to swing a golf club. I used to live by a driving range and one day I decided that I was going to learn how to hit the ball until I could do it on a consistent basis. I remember my wife telling me I was crazy for not getting lessons and she came out and sat in the parking lot and watched me try to learn without a teacher. Years later my, wife bought me lessons and I found out that I had a lot of bad habits due to my self taught swing. Many people use this scripture to validate giving a child a whopping, but we must be very careful when we use scripture to validate our behavior. It is our behavior that should validate and emulate in the natural what scripture says. In other words we should seek God on the correct actions to display. A couple of thoughts from this scripture: 1) The main thing about the rod is that it includes all discipline and it's not just a whopping. 2) Does the "rod' in this verse mean "belt" or was this learned from slave owners? Lastly, just because we have learned or was taught something, it doesn't mean it was the right and/or only way. Renewing of the mind applies to everyone (Romans 12:2). When we stop renewing, we stop transforming. What is God saying to you in your situation?