Interspersed in age appropriate doses, information and Biblical truth have passed from this mother’s lips to the listening ears of my young girls.
From the earliest context-setting, (“no, so-and-so at church cannot be a mommy yet because she isn’t married” –we’re not identifying possibility here, just God’s chronology to my young inquisitor) to the greater detailed explanation of young womanhood, the opportunities for conversation have bounded.
But our lastborn is of the masculine kind.
Pull out a new rulebook!
(Thankfully, the baton passes a bit more directly to his daddy).
And so Jon and Josh embark upon the male counterpart of the journey my girls and I have taken.
My point today is to share a tool that has been of huge help.
Preparing your Son for Every Man’s Battle by Stephen Arterburn.
Written for both father and son, the book is divided up into two parts.
Section One discusses directly with the father the key issues of sexual integrity, temptation and the continual nature of the battle.
Section Two is intended to be read by father and son together. Each chapter focuses on a significant truth and then illustrates & exemplifies it in practical, easy to understand language.
This section is further divided by age, so that the beginning chapters of Section Two are read at a certain younger age and the latter chapters are read a few years later.
My own father-son duo has found it to be necessarily explicit at times yet honorable and accurate, identifying and highlighting the widespread nature of this battle.
Thus giving our youngest targets of Satan’s assault the truth of God’s Word and practical strategies to do battle.
Not too many weeks ago, Sarah mentioned to Jon and me privately that she’s noticed that whenever Josh sees someone poorly dressed on TV, he turns his eyes away. Jon spoke up, ‘Yes, we read about and talked about that strategy earlier this year. The sooner one gets started averting eyes from temptation, the stronger the defense against temptation.”
I was surprised, yet….grateful.
I am reminded to pray anew for the purity of my young son.
And to include in that prayer thankfulness to God for the tools & teaching He’s been receiving in this masculine battle I know little about.
The goal is a familiar one, however.
Honor and purity before God.
It starts at a young age.
Section Two is intended to be read by father and son together. Each chapter focuses on a significant truth and then illustrates & exemplifies it in practical, easy to understand language.
This section is further divided by age, so that the beginning chapters of Section Two are read at a certain younger age and the latter chapters are read a few years later.
My own father-son duo has found it to be necessarily explicit at times yet honorable and accurate, identifying and highlighting the widespread nature of this battle.
Thus giving our youngest targets of Satan’s assault the truth of God’s Word and practical strategies to do battle.
Not too many weeks ago, Sarah mentioned to Jon and me privately that she’s noticed that whenever Josh sees someone poorly dressed on TV, he turns his eyes away. Jon spoke up, ‘Yes, we read about and talked about that strategy earlier this year. The sooner one gets started averting eyes from temptation, the stronger the defense against temptation.”
I was surprised, yet….grateful.
I am reminded to pray anew for the purity of my young son.
And to include in that prayer thankfulness to God for the tools & teaching He’s been receiving in this masculine battle I know little about.
The goal is a familiar one, however.
Honor and purity before God.
It starts at a young age.
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