Put Away Your Childish Ways
“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things” (1 Corinthians 13:11).
Many women today never grow up. They act like children even as adults. They are led by their emotions and feelings. They get offended easily. They have temper tantrums when things don’t go their way. When they want something, they demand they get it. They are insecure and ungrateful. They want to be served and not serve. They are seekers of pleasure and what feels good. They give up when the going gets rough. They are immature.
As believers in Jesus Christ, we are commanded to put away childish things and grow in the wisdom and the knowledge of the Lord. In Ephesians 4:1-3, we are commanded to “walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” This is how a mature woman is to conduct her life.
We are to walk worthy of our vocation. What is our vocation? If you are a married woman, your vocation is to be a help meet to your husband and a keeper at home. If you have children, you are to mother your children. This is God’s calling on your life. Therefore, walk worthy of it! How do you do this? Make sure you are continually renewing your mind with God’s truths found in His Word. This is what helps you grow in maturity. Commit to being a woman of the Word and a woman of prayer.
As a wife and mother, humble yourself and learn to love and serve your family with lowliness and meekness. A mature woman knows that the greatest of all is the servant of all. She wants to live her life serving others. She is longsuffering with her husband and children. She understands God uses trials and sufferings for her good. Everything that comes into her life, she knows that God will be with her and give her the grace and the strength to endure.
She forbears with her family in love. She knows they aren’t perfect and they have faults, but she loves them deeply. She wants peace in her home, therefore, she does all she can to maintain peace. She trains her children to obey her, to be kind, and raises them in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. She knows the Spirit works mightily within her and God’s grace is abundant upon her.
Women, let us put away our childish ways and seek to be women who love the Lord with all of our heart, mind, and strength, and love others as we love ourselves.
But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Hebrews 5:14
19 thoughts on “Put Away Your Childish Ways”
Sadly true! Many act like entitled little brats and never want to grow up, hence a generation “adulting” but never really just being adults…
Excellent post encouraging us to grow up in Christ, Lori. Thank you for publishing, and God bless!
What wonderful exhortation. I absolutely love being a wife and a mama. It is such a privilege.
Sadly so true! It seems everywhere we go today, we see how immature women are behaving! It’s as if they want to continue to being in “High School!”
I love the verses mentioned here today!
1 Corinthians 13:11
Ephesians 4:1-3
Hebrews 5:14
Love this. So very true – an excellent reminder for me this week! 🙂
Wonderful article and so timely.
I see you linked my youtube page its not the best quality but thanks! Had no idea people here followed me. God bless you!
I don’t see it in Kansas nearly as much as I saw it when I lived in SoCal. I remember once I was working in a little craft store and a woman (50ish) came in with her husband to show him a little cabinet we had for sale. It was obvious that she desperately wanted it. It was 15 minutes to closing. We could hear them arguing and she walked away from him and went to a corner of the store and pouted. (Nope, you can’t make this stuff up!). He went over and more arguing, then more pouting. We finished vacuuming, turned off a row of lights and let them know we’d be closing in 5 minutes.
The woman ignored us, continued to pout, the husband followed her around, & we told them we needed to close. Around and around they went. We finally called the store owner to see what we should do as she was not listening to us at all. This was 30 minutes after closing. I don’t remember how we finally got them out, but I do remember seeing her walking down the sidewalk and her husband driving next to her trying to coax her into the car. The whole thing was embarrassing to watch. I can’t imagine behaving that way and I have plenty in my life to blush about!!!
So true and such a well worded post Lori.
I got a story for you…
So last weekend my husband and I were guests at dinner…
The conversation turned to a mutual friend, a man, in his early 40s who agreed to be a ‘sperm donor’ for a woman [single mother…aren’t they all?] he had been friends with for 15 years and briefly dated a few months ago…in fact the couple had been guests at our Halloween party.
My husband came from the financial aspect (I love my husband but his family is all about the $$) “Just wait till she gets him for child support” [I agree with my husband, but I do wish moral issues would come first occasionally]
I came with a “Why is he bringing a child into the world who will grow up from day 1 without a 2 parent home?”
Our resident dinner table Ex-but-now-married Single mother predictably (oh so predictably) shrieked ‘A child only needs their mother!’
Oh dear…by the way the now married single mother’s 11 year girl is the most ill-behaved child I’ve ever met. I think that disproves the ‘only needs a mother’ thesis pretty soundly.
Anyyywwwwaaaayyyysss….
The reason why the guy did it was because in his words ‘This may be the only chance for me to start a family’
Which is so sad, I’ve met the guy on several occasions and he’s a good man (extremely short is all.) No man who wants a child should EVER feel ‘This is the only way….’
It’s just heartbreaking. Men have low self-esteem and men and women are just not trained to be successful in relationships.
Also, I think it shows that people are so short-sighted. What happens when he holds his daughter or son in the hospital but then….
Goes home alone. Or even worse, the mother finds a new man, and his biological child is with a stranger.
You think you’re in pain without a child…imagine the pain of being separated from your child.
That’s my latest story from the dysfunctional 21st century.
It’s a very sad story.
It’s vital to teach our children the appropriate way to handle emotions and feelings. Give them tools to help them, otherwise kids will do as they wish, and behave badly.
A mature woman knows that the greatest of all is the servant of all.
That instruction was given in Mark 10 to Jesus disciples, who were to become the leaders of the church, and it is instruction for church leaders. Christ is the head of the church. The men who lead it are not to interlope or usurp over Christ’s bride, but they are to serve Christ by serving His bride. The Bible gives clear and separate instructions for how family members are to relate to each other. The husband is the head over the wife just as Christ is the head over the church. (Ephesians 5) The husband in not to serve his wife, but to love her. And love is not doing what she wants, but doing what is best for her. Yes, he may end up serving her, but only as he deems appropriate. There is absolutely nowhere in the Bible where a husband is commanded to obey or serve his wife, like Adam obeyed Eve, and thus Satan, plunging this world into cursed ruin. Neither should wives serve their children. Wives are to be taught to love their children,(Titus 2) which again means doing what is best for them, not what they want. Serving your children would lead to a spoiled and entitled generation which had difficulty growing up. Just as men being told to be “servant leaders” to their wives leads to spoiled and entitled women, and then to destroyed two-headed marriages. Meanwhile the very same church leaders, who wrongly foist “servant leadership” onto husbands, do not serve the members of their church as they are in fact commanded to do, but they lord over Christ’s bride like they were the groom. They’re false teaching hypocrites, and our society’s growing moral decay and destroyed families are their rotten fruit.
So true. A very challenging thought. We could probably all handle being a little more of a servant of all. I am definately give this aspect of my life some prayer and effort to change.
So true. A very challenging thought. We could probably all handle being a little more of a servant of all. I am definately going to give this aspect of my life some prayer and effort to change.
“Everything that comes into her life, she knows that God will be with her and give her the grace and the strength to endure.” – Thank you Lori, I so needed to read this today!
Being a wife and mother is my entire life, but it’s definitely not without it’s struggles!
Imogen, yes! In my country, (the UK) they are trying to introduce teaching children about emotional regulation and how to get on well with others. I am thankful for this, as so many children are not getting it in the home. The UK has one of the worst mental health rates in Europe, so many children have an unstable sense of self worth and feel insecure leading to rebellion, peer pressure etc If only children were taught from day one about the love of Jesus and how they are precious and made in God’s image. If we were brought up with this idea that we are all God’s creation and deeply valued by the King of Kings, who has a plan for our lives if we obey Him, then maybe there would be fewer abortions.
Amen, Elias. All Christians are mandated to serve, whether it be in the home or in ministry or both.
I am barren (no kids because my health issues and disabilities makes raising children difficult so I decided not to have them unless or until God heals me, depending on His will) yet I like to serve other Christians and the poor and needy. If I had a husband, I would serve him too. We are all callled to be servants. For mothers and wives they have an excellent ready made opportunity to do this in their homes.
Amen, Beka! me too