MOTHER
Today is Mother’s Day. I have said this many times before, but I am glad that our country has chosen a day each year to remind us just how special and precious our mothers are to us. We should certainly be thankful for our mothers especial those who are faithful Christians. In today’s lesson I am going to take the word “mother” and use it in acrostic fashion to talk about the wonderful qualities that make up a faithful Christian mother.
Our first letter is M and from this I came up with the word Mimic. A faithful Christian mother will mimic other faithful Christian mother. Hopefully they were fortunate enough to be raised by faithful Christian mother who taught them the value of serving God and living their life for Him. Even if a mother did not have the privilege having such a mother, she can go to Bible and examine what a godly mother is all about.
For example should read the story about Jochebed and how she did everything in her power to protect her son from being put to death. Of course, I am talking about Moses’ mother. It would not of have been easy to be a Hebrew mother at that time with the Pharaoh ordering the midwives to kill all the male children being born, but Jochebed did her best with the situation at hand, which can be read in Exodus 2. After 3 months she could no longer hide the child so she came up with a idea that she hoped would work. She send him down the river to the Pharaoh’s daughter for her to discover him hoping that the young child would touch her heart and it worked. Her child was saved.
Jochebed’s story teaches a young mother many things.
We also learn that Jochebed not only saved here son’s life, but she was about to be a wet nurse for her own son. Apparently, she taught her son many things about his heritage and about God, because at the age of 40 Moses defended one of his own though he a promising future in the Egyptian kingdom. This shows, how much influence a godly mother can have on their child and how important it is for a mother to instill as much knowledge about serving God and treating others as she can because that kind of influence can give a child the foundation they need to be about to grow up and be a productive citizen of their country and more importantly make them become a faithful servant of God.
Of course, Jochebed is just one of many examples that a faithful Christian mother should learn to mimic.
Our second letter is O. From this letter, I came up with the word obey. Every faithful Christian mother must be one that obeys the Word of God. Obviously, one cannot be or claim to be a faithful Christian mother if they do not love God enough to obey His Word.
It is imperative that all Christian mothers be students of the Bible because not only does it contain the words of life it contains all the knowledge and wisdom you need to be the best mother you can be. As Peter says:
2 Peter 1:2 Grace
and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our
Lord, 3 as His divine power
has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through
the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us
exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be
partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in
the world through lust. 5 But
also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to
virtue knowledge, 6 to
knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance
godliness, 7 to godliness
brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours
and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Christian mothers must
continue to grow and learn from their mistakes and never cease from taking all
they can from God’s Word. It should be comforting to all mothers that God has
provided them with all the information they need to be saved, live happy lives,
be a good wife, and to be a wonderful mother. So, let every mother here never
stop obeying the Word of God or recognizing it as our authority from God.
Our third letter is T.
From the letter I got the word train. One of the awesome responsibilities that
mothers have been given is to train their children in the way of the Lord. Yes,
this the father’s job as well, but a mother has her part in the training as
well. As the writer of Proverbs said:
Proverbs 22:6 Train
up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from
it.
Every mother must realize
that God has blessed with children. They are a gift from God.
Psalm 127:3 Behold,
children are a heritage from the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a
reward.
God did not give us our children so we could corrupt their minds or cause them to grow up hating God. In fact, notice the warning from Jesus:
Matthew 18:6 "
But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would
be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned
in the depth of the sea.
Our goal should be to
train our children in the way of the Lord. The Scriptures tells us to do this
very thing:
Deuteronomy 4:9 " Only take heed to yourself,
and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen,
and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And teach them
to your children and your grandchildren, 10 "especially
concerning the day you stood before the LORD your God in Horeb, when the
LORD said to me, 'Gather the people to Me, and I will let them hear My words,
that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that
they may teach their children.'
Deuteronomy 6:4 "
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! 5 "You shall love the LORD
your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your
strength. 6 " And these
words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 "You shall teach them
diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house,
when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
Ephesians 6:1
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 "Honor your father and
mother," which is the first commandment with promise: 3 "that it may be well with
you and you may live long on the earth."
4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath,
but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.
Let us all be diligent about teaching our children about God and what He has done for us continues to do for us, and will do for us in the future. We know that each of our children have a free will and they choose what path they will take. We cannot and never should force them down the path they should go, but we should do everything we can to influence them and teach them about righteousness and its eternal benefits so they will be able to make a wise decision based on the facts.
Sometimes all the proper training in the world will not cause some children to take the wrong path, but the majority of them will. For example, Timothy was influenced by his mother and grandmother to love God and His word. Their teachings and influence helped make him to become the faithful Christian and evangelist that he turned into. So, let us never neglect to train our children in the way of the Lord.
Our fourth letter is H. From this letter, I got the word Helpful. Every faithful Christian mother is going to be helpful. Whether they are helping their children with their homework or helping them complete some other task, a mother should enjoy being helpful to their children and to others. Notice some of the helpful qualities that King Lemuel gives us from his description of a virtuous wife?
Proverbs 31:10 Who can
find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. 11 The heart of her husband safely
trusts her; So he will have no lack of gain.
12 She does him good and not evil All the days of her
life. 13 She seeks wool and
flax, And willingly works with her hands.
14 She is like the merchant ships, She brings her food from
afar. 15 She also rises while
it is yet night, And provides food for her household, And a portion for her
maidservants. 16 She
considers a field and buys it; From her profits she plants a vineyard. 17 She girds herself with strength,
And strengthens her arms. 18
She perceives that her merchandise is good, And her lamp does not go out
by night. 19 She stretches
out her hands to the distaff, And her hand holds the spindle. 20 She extends her hand to the
poor, Yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy. 21 She is not afraid of snow for
her household, For all her household is clothed with scarlet.
As the saying goes, a mother’s job is never done. There is always someone in the family or outside the family that is going to need a helpful hand so let all mothers continue to strive to be helpful and allow their good works to bring honor and glory to God.
Our fifth letter is E. From this letter I got the word example. Every faithful Christian mother must be a godly example to their children because a child learns from your words and your actions. They are not dumb and they know when you are being a hypocrite. You cannot teach your children the right way and then you do just the opposite. If you teach you children not to lie, then you better not lie. If you teach them not to say foul words then you better not say foul words. As Paul said:
Romans 2:21 You,
therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a
man should not steal, do you steal? 22
You who say, "Do not commit adultery," do you commit adultery? You
who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
We cannot be like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day who knew the commands of God and had no problem telling other what they should do, but they would not follow their own words. As Jesus said:
Matthew 23:2 "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in
Moses' seat. 3
"Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do,
but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. 4 "For they bind heavy burdens,
hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will
not move them with one of their fingers.
All Christians should
follow this advice and just be hearers and preachers of God’s Word but doers of
it as well. Mothers should take great care in what kind of influence they are
going to be on their children because in many ways, a mother has the greatest
influence on their children. Let every mother do their best to be the example
they should be because not only can they influence their children, they
influence their husbands as well.
As Peter said:
1 Peter 3:1 Wives,
likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not
obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their
wives, 2 when they observe your
chaste conduct accompanied by fear.
3 Do not let your adornment be merely outward --
arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel -- 4 rather let it be the
hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle
and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. 5 For in this manner, in former
times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being
submissive to their own husbands, 6
as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do
good and are not afraid with any terror.
So, never doubt how
powerful your example can be with your children, your husband, and with others.
Our 6th letter
is R. From this letter I got the word Remain. Every faith Christian mother must
remain faithful to the Lord. Again, this though goes hand and hand with being a
godly example. When you show your commitment to serving God by how you serve
others and treat others the way God would want to your children will most
likely want to have the same commitment to the Lord as well. Mothers and all
Christians can show their faithfulness by continually keep God’s Word. They can
show how much they love God and His people by attending the worships services
and Bible classes on regular basis. They can show how much they love speaking
to God by having a daily habit of praying and they can show how much they love
to hear the Lord speak by reading their Bibles on a daily basis.
Living the Christian life
and being a godly mother can be difficult at times, but a faithful mother must
never give up. They must continue to persevere and let their light shine, not
just for themselves, but to show their children and those around them this is
possible to remain faithful to God. We should all take comfort what Jesus says
about remaining faithful.
Revelation 2:10 "Do
not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil
is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and
you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give
you the crown of life.
When our children see our
faithfulness, we can hope that they will mimic us and will teach their children
to have the same commitment to Lord. While I mainly focused on what a faithful
mother is all about, just about everything I have mentioned applies to every
Christian. So, let us all learn from the lesson to:
Mimic (Mimic the examples of those who are faithful to God)
Obey (Obey the Word God)
Train (Train our Children in the way of God)
Helpful (Be helpful to others so we can glorify God)
Example (Be a godly example)
Remain (Remain faithful to the Lord)
I would like to close this special lesson about mothers by reading you a children’s story that teaches this idea about how a loving mom loves her child and influences him to pass on that love to his child.
Love You Forever
by Robert Munsch
A mother held her new baby and very slowly rocked him back and forth, back
and forth, back and forth. And while she held him, she sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.
The baby grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was two years old, and he ran all around the house. He pulled all the books off the shelves. He pulled all the food out of the refrigerator and he took his mother's watch and flushed it down the toilet. Sometimes his mother would say, "this kid is driving me CRAZY!"
But at night time, when that two-year-old was quiet, she opened the door to
his room, crawled across the floor, looked up over the side of his bed; and if
he was really asleep she picked him up and rocked him back and forth, back and
forth, back and forth. While she rocked him she sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.
The little boy grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was nine years old. And he never wanted to come in for dinner, he never wanted to take a bath, and when grandma visited he always said bad words. Sometimes his mother wanted to sell him to the zoo!
But at night time, when he was asleep, the mother quietly opened the door to
his room, crawled across the floor and looked up over the side of the bed. If
he was really asleep, she picked up that nine-year-old boy and rocked him back and
forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while she rocked him she sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.
The boy grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was a teenager. He had strange friends and he wore strange clothes and he listened to strange music. Sometimes the mother felt like she was in a zoo!
But at night time, when that teenager was asleep, the mother opened the door
to his room, crawled across the floor and looked up over the side of the bed.
If he was really asleep she picked up that great big boy and rocked him back
and forth, back and forth, back and forth. While she rocked him she sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.
That teenager grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was a
grown-up man. He left home and got a house across town. But sometimes on dark
nights the mother got into her car and drove across town. If all the
lights in her son's house were out, she opened his bedroom window, crawled
across the floor, and looked up over the side of his bed. If that great big man
was really asleep she picked him up and rocked him back and forth, back and
forth, back and forth. And while she rocked him she sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.
Well, that mother, she got older. She got older and older and older. One day
she called up her son and said, "You'd better come see me because I'm very
old and sick." So her son came to see her. When he came in the door she
tried to sing the song. She sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always...
But she couldn't finish because she was too old and sick. The son went to
his mother. He picked her up and rocked her back and forth, back and forth,
back and forth. And he sang this song:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my Mommy you'll be.
When the son came home that night, he stood for a long time at the top of
the stairs. Then he went into the room where his very new baby daughter was
sleeping. He picked her up in his arms and very slowly rocked her back and
forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while he rocked her he sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.