Putting Away Childish Things
Summary
A child is a joy to watch as he or she plays freely in a field, rolling down the hill, laughing and smiling. All adults need to have this side of their personality in raising their children. Many of us have forgotten how to be children.
But there is another kind of childish behavior which disrupts and destroys our homes ... actions such as pouting and blaming, yelling, and physically acting out rage when we don’t get our way.
When St. Paul wrote his famous chapter in Corinthians on the meaning of love, he concluded the descriptions by saying that now that he was an adult, he had no more use for childish ways. Can we as fathers say that about the love we show our family? In this sermon we will look at some of these behaviors which Paul was referring to, but more importantly, cover how the Holy Spirit can help us grow up as fathers.
Sometimes
it’s difficult for children to imagine that their fathers were once children.
That is until they romp with him in a touch football game or see him jump up
and down as he catches a fish with a cane pole. These are signs of the child
inside dad coming out. Of course there are other signs our children observe of
the child within us, aren’t there? For instance, when Dad’s lawnmower won’t
work and he jumps up and down kicking the mower in a pouting anger. Or, all
kids have witnessed this one: Mom and Dad have had an argument and Dad didn’t
win. So he just doesn’t talk to Mom for the next two days. We call this
childish behavior. It is the opposite of what we refer to as mature behavior.
James
Dobson, in one of his books on childrearing, interviewed a number of 8-10 year
olds in order to figure out how they looked at the world around them. He gave
them each a sheet and asked them to complete six statements beginning with the
words, “Parents are people who.” They were to list three good things and three
bad things about parents. One young man, typical of most of the kids, wrote the
following:
Parents are people who make you feel better when your friends don’t
like you.
Parents are people who work hard so they can buy you a Nintendo
game.
Parents are people who let you have friends over to spend the
night.
Now
for the not so good!
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