Thursday, February 28, 2013

The Curse Of Being First Born


Controlling.  I would love to control everybody around me...I always think I know best.  My youngest daughter, Cassi, is not controlling at all.  Neither is my youngest sister, Debbi.  Ryan, who is my second born pictured above, is the opposite of controlling.   They have no desire to control others.  How freeing that must be!

I nearly destroyed my marriage because I was so controlling.  The bottom line of being controlling is selfishness, wanting my own way.  I have learned to battle this curse, ie. sin.  I don't want to be controlling.  Other people don't like being controlled.  I know I sure wouldn't want to be controlled by someone else.

Now there are some positives about being the first born.  They are usually born leaders and have strong personalities.  They can be trained for good things...good leaders and teachers.  All personality types have positive and negative qualities.

The key is to know what your negatives are and work on getting rid of them.  Acknowledge that they are wrong.  Recognizing and admitting your sin is the first step to getting rid of it.  Then ask the Lord to help you overcome it.  Realize the freedom you have in Christ and let His Spirit work inside of you.

So to all you firstborns out there who are controlling, recognize it and repent of it!  It destroys marriages and relationships.  Let people be who they are and do what they want to do.  Life is much more pleasant and peaceful this way.  Others will even want to have you around.  Hopefully, Emma, a first born, will not follow in her grandmother's footsteps!

Work at living in peace with everyone,
and work at living a holy life,
for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.
Hebrews 12:14

Comments (18)

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I'm the first born, and I can relate to this! Over the past couple of years I've recognized that unfortunately I can be controlling with the closest people in my life. :( I didn't realize it until I got married....and yes, I've prayed for the Lord to help me with this and He is. Growing up --even now--I've always felt responsible for my younger siblings. A "mothering" of sorts. That can be a wonderful thing, but it doesn't translate well in marriage! (lol!) My husband is the youngest child and we've discussed together the differences in being oldest vs. youngest. He is very patient with me and so is the Lord as I grow in trusting others more. :)
Blessings,
Leslie
1 reply · active 630 weeks ago
I became MUCH worse after I got married...unfortunately, I think most women do. At least you recognize it now and with God's help living inside of you, you can stop! Such a wonderful thing.
I am a first born and was very controllin with my younger brother, but as an adult I'm not control freak, at all..hubby is the controller, and he is a 4th. child... but I let him know and so we go on, lol! I see what you mean in my oldest grandgirl with her younger sister. Never thought about it. Thank you for this info, I will explain a little to my granddaughter 8, about not been so controlling. Blessings.
FABBY
1 reply · active 630 weeks ago
Yes, you need to let her know that it is not good. The first step to overcoming sins is to see them clearly!
My husband and I BOTH are firstborns!
The beginning years of our marriage was hard, very hard. We were not Christians back then, nor did I know anything about respecting my husband the biblical way.
Thank God for change and grace!
1 reply · active 630 weeks ago
Wow! That would be difficult. Ken is third born so he is more of a pleaser but we sure did butt heads for way too many years. Thankfully, we don't anymore and life is pleasant and peaceful.
LOL! My husband and I are also firstborns. But I think only I suffer from control freak syndrome. My first child just turned two months. I wouldn't want her to suffer of this affliction her mom battles with. Any advice on how to stop this firstborn tendency?
1 reply · active 630 weeks ago
You just let her know that you are the boss and she isn't. This is the way we trained Alyssa, our oldest, and she learned very early she couldn't boss us around at all. She loved organizing things {plays and dances}, a leader but not bossy...I just asked Cassi and this is what she said!
I am one of those 1st born controllers and my husband is a 2nd born and a youngest. It took me years to realize how easy it was to control him and that just fueled my desire to be in charge of everything. I have only been rehabilitating for a couple of years but now when I see myself slipping into that controlling behavior, it is easier to snap out of it. By the way reading your blog it one of the things that started me down the right path...
1 reply · active 630 weeks ago
That is great, Susan! It is simply renewing our mind with God's truth and acting on truth not emotions or feelings. The more you practice it, the easier it will get!
My husband and I are also both firstborns (and my name is Alyssa ;) We have a 7 month old son and I had never even thought about purposefully training the typical oldest-child tendencies out of him. Thank you for pointing that out!
1 reply · active 630 weeks ago
I hindsight I should have addressed that issue in the post! Maybe I will have to write another post about that...
I feel like we have an interesting dynamic. I'm a twin (we are both girls). I read a birth order book in college and both my sister and I have some qualities of firstborn, middle and youngest child. It depends on the situation we are in. I always allowed my sister to control me growing up because it wasn't worth the fight to me. However, I'm very stuck in my ways when it comes to my beliefs. I'm very passionate and I used to argue with others about that, but now I have learned that it is not worth having runing friendships over a difference in politics, religion, etc... Since we moved my current bestfriends are my husband's cousin's. We are all all moms and around the same age, but I am extremely conservative and they are extremely liberal. We have never had one conflict about this. We respect each other enough to not argue, and it's great!
1 reply · active 630 weeks ago
You're right, relationships are much more important than being right!
Great post ~ so honest and sincere ~ lovely photo ~ ^_^
Sweet photography---and I love that reminder---being kind is more important than being right!
You have such a lovely family Lori! I'm a first born + I can totally relate. Appreciated your thoughts! :)
Can you write a post on how to teach our first borns to not be controlling? I know you touched on it in one of your responses to a comment but my sister desperately needs more detail on how to help her 5 year old firstborn. Her daughter is as controlling as a person can possibly get and bosses her sister around. My niece tries to plan for every contingency and is a worrywart. If she continues in this trajectory she will not have a happy marriage. My sister wants to train it out of her ASAP. My sister already learned to submit to her husband and her daughter sees that but is still very very controlling and speaks in a harsh bossy tone to her sister unless her mom reminds her to be gentle. My sister wants to cultivate a gentle and quiet spirit in her and teach her to trust God more. Thanks

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