See Matthew 18:1-4. We need to grow beyond childlikeness. We need to grow from children into adults, from childish things to mature things. Things we learn in childhood will impact on us as we mature. The absence of love and moral guidelines in your childhood can have an impact on our lives. We cannot carry this into adulthood. We all have individual responsibility to do what is right when we mature. There are things in your life that can bind you.

1 – Feeling that you never measure up

No matter what you do you can’t please your parent. You can never do enough to please them. If you can’t please your parents then it can have an effect on your life. Some have wrecked and ruined their life trying to measure up to your parents’ impossible standards.

2 – The desire to have our needs met immediately

A child needs to learn early in life that they can’t have everything in life by yelling and screaming. The child will later in life want a car, sex, alcohol, etc, now. Parents need to discipline their children. We can’t always have what we want when we want it.

3 – Temper tantrums

They throw temper tantrums because they don’t get their own way. It is wrong to respond as a child in a difficult situation.

4 – Low self-esteem

People need to feel that what they do counts for something. We are all products of our environment.

5 – Fear

There is a fear of not having enough. The child may grow up and make poor financial decisions because they are afraid of not having enough. The child will grow up being materialistic.

6 – A distorted view of God

The child gets their impression of God from their father. They often do not see God as a loving Father but as a rude, crude taskmaster. They get this impression from their earthly father.

7 – Removing behaviours that bind us

• Identify the behaviour.
• Own the behaviour – I can no longer blame my childish behaviours on someone else.
• Trace the behaviour back to its source – Why am I like that.
• Forgive the person you think is responsible – You must do this or the behaviour will remain a problem.
• Forgive yourself – We feel guilty about the way we act.
• Ask God to set you free.
• Renew your mind about yourself. This behaviour is no longer part of your life. Live in the present and not in the past. The childish things are gone.

Categories: 1 Corinthians