Brought my son to the pool a third time after he was frightened off by the first experience. He was still a little fearful of staying in the water. I had to keep encouraging him and tell him that he's a bold and courageous boy.
It is interesting that we learn a lot of wrong/negative stuff in life. We didn't start out that way. We were born with a healthy identity that God has given to us. Yet through circumstances and experiences in life, we start to build a false identity based on the negative things we learn.
When a baby is in his mother's womb, he is not afraid of water. His whole body and face are immersed in water. When a baby first comes into this world, he is not afraid of water if you immediately put him in a pool. He is created to be fearless when it comes to water.
But as the baby grows up and experiences something bad when he gets into the pool, he learns how to be fearful of water. My son had a bad experience when we brought him to the pool for the very first time. The water was too cold for him. As a result, he was down with a cold within one day. He learnt fear through that.
We learn many things such as fear and worries in our lives. We learn guilt, condemnation and shame in our lives. We were not born to have those emotions and thoughts. A baby/toddler can boldly jump off from the bed. He can confidently climb high despite the danger of falling. He is created that way. It is only after a fall that he learns about danger and caution. If we don't teach him how to separate his identity from his experience, he will build a false identity based on his experience. That is disastrous in the long run.
Before we know Christ, we didn't know what guilt and condemnation is all about --- after we have sinned. After knowing Christ, we develop guilt and condemnation after sinning against God. This tells me one thing - guilt and condemnation is never from God. We just learn it because of our bad experience; people tell us about it; the devil whispers it to us. Jesus did not condemn the woman who was caught in adultery. He said, "Neither do I condemn you..." Romans 8:1 tells us that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Since the fall of Man in the Garden of Eden, God has been wanting to restore our identity to the image of Him. We were all created to be secured in our identity. We were all made to be whole in our identity --- bold, fearless, peaceful, assured, strong, etc. But we have picked up too many negative things along the way. The only way to resolve this is to see our identity in Christ. Our identity has to be called out, reminded and lived out.
My role as Jeshua's father is to call out his identity over and over again despite his bad experiences. I'm not going to say, "My son is afraid of water." I will tell Jeshua, "You are bold and courageous. You can go into the water and enjoy it."
