Immature giftings (Godly Parenting)

I had a fight last week with one of my daughters who pushed her brother and then wouldn't own up or apologise.  She was so stubborn that I had to send her to her room whilst I calmed down.

Back track 11 years to when we had her dedication at church. Whilst it was a good celebration my wife and I were a little disappointed to receive only one prophetic word: they saw her standing on a battlefield after everyone else had given up and gone home. It was an image of perseverance.

As I calmed down I realised that her stubbornness was the immature form of her gift of perseverance*.

So when I spoke to her again, I called out† who she was going to be "You know you are going to be someone who keeps on going when everyone else has given up. You are going to do great things for God because of this," but then guided her from where she currently was, "but you can also use this great gift that God has given you to keep resisting when you should say sorry." She grinned sheepishly.  The atmosphere had changed, she saw who she was going to be and in light of that apologised.

As parents it's all too easy to see bad behaviour as just something that needs to be stamped out and by doing so we can then crush the very gifting God has given them.

We need discernment to see if it is an immature form of a godly gift.

We can see Jesus do this with his disciples - they were constantly clamouring for being first (Luke 9:46-48;22:24-26) but Jesus didn't rebuke their desire for being first, instead he redirected it.  Greatest means being a servant, greatest means welcoming those you see as "less".  Their desire for being greatest was an immature form of their gift of leadership.

Here's a summary of some immature forms of a godly gift that I have discovered so far:

• daring/naughty - apostle
• bossy/wants to be first - leader
• speaks out inappropriately/black or white opinions - prophet
• gives things away carelessly - generosity
• stubborn - perseverance
• overly sensitive - compassion
• unrealistic expectations - faith
• dreamer, nonconformist - creativity
• critical or fault finding - discernment
• fussy, easily put-out, doesn't like disturbed routine - administration

If you have others to add to this list then I would love to know - please comment below.

Also as parents we shouldn't despise the days of small beginnings (Zech 4:10) - that is we shouldn't look down on a fledgling gift.  For example when my eldest son was about 5, he overheard my wife and I discussing that we were short on money.  He went to his piggy bank and brought us some of his pocket money.  It was such a small amount, like 5 pence, and at that time I'm ashamed to say that I thanked him but refused his offer as it would make no difference.  But by doing so I crushed the beginning of his gift of generosity.  As parents need to humble ourselves enough to accept help from our children.  As parents we want our children surpass us - not remain below us.

 It's only by God's grace that I later recognised his gifting and let him give his pocket money away.  He gave a £1 to a friend's dad who had lost his job.  He gives money to the homeless.  He buys sweets for his siblings.  He saves up so he can buy Christmas gifts.  By encouraging his gift of generosity I have found that I want to keep up with him and so he has spurred me on in the faith.

Father, open my eyes to see beyond my frustration.  Help me not to crush my children's immature gifting but give me wisdom to help redirect them towards their calling.  Help me to humble myself to learn from them and be transformed as a result.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.


* I am indebted to David Freeman who first opened my eyes to this whole area.

† For more information on how to call out a child see my previous post here.

How to stop looking at women lustfully (godly desire)

*Content warning*

This post discusses desires in a frank but godly way.

All Christian men know the passage:

"But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Mt 5:28)

The problem is we don't know is how to stop this.

Sometimes it feels like we are wired to notice the bodies of others. In fact we can often be shocked at how much we can be aroused by just looking someone. But as a Christian man, we think "I'm a new creation - I'm not meant to feel this way!"

A brief internet search shows that we are not alone when looking for help to stop lusting after women:

However, the advice given seems to fall into one of three camps:

• Condemnation/shame/works - you shouldn't do this, it doesn't honour God or the woman. Try harder, chop off everything that causes you to sin, etc.
• Triumphalistic - you're a new creation, you're free from this, shake it off as it's the old you, repeat "I am the righteousness of Christ", etc.
• Liberal/humanistic - it's natural, men are designed the polygamous, there's nothing you can do about it, accept it as part of who you are, etc.

As well meaning as all of these are, all of them are lacking:

• Using internet filters to cut things off is helpful but ultimately it's external and doesn't change our heart.  And you can't avoid going out in summer, nor filter the first accidental glance.  Besides self-effort will ultimately fail as apart from Jesus we can do nothing (Jn 15:5).  And so the cycle of shame will begin again and the more rubbish you feel the more you will act out of that identity.
• Realising your new identity is important - it helps renew our mind (Rom 12:2), and how we act flows out of our new identity. But it's too easy to treat this as a formula: "I'm saying the right words but it's not working!" and miss intimacy with the father that changes our heart.  It's also to easy to become inward rather than outward looking.
• Whilst we do need to recognise how God has made us as men, we are not animals subject to our biological urges. We're made in the image of God and our sexuality means something.

So what can we do? How can we take the good in each of these approaches?

First we recognise that God has made us men and has wired us to notice beauty - so when you notice this happening don't try and suppress it or pretend it's not there. That won't solve anything.  Acknowledge it, however realise that the woman is not the goal, but merely the shadow of who our hearts are really looking for.

Second we realise that we are made in the image of God and men are meant to love women sacrificially like Christ loved the church (Eph 5:25). We have a higher calling: we are meant to give (love) not take (lust).

Thirdly, we men are made to act not just acknowledge our godly calling to give.  After all we are meant to be co-workers with Christ (1 Cor 3:9). I have found the best way to do this is to pray for the woman we see.  Something like:

"Father, I thank you for this beautiful woman.  I thank you that you created her and that you love her.  I thank you that you have made her to be loved and cherished.  Father I ask that you would pour out your blessing on her, that she would become aware of your presence, that she would find her value in your love and not how she looks...." 

This prayer is not a formula - it's from the heart.  It's not a inward prayer "father help me to stop lusting!" which assumes we are still bound by our old identity as a sinner.  It's a prayer from our new identity in Christ and in line with what we are meant to do as men.

The Kingdom is advancing - and seeing a beautiful woman is an opportunity for it to forcefully advance in our lives as we step into our destiny as men.  Amen.

Part 2 of this series is now available here.