THE INFLUENCE OF MOTHERS
Don DeWelt was one of my college professors at Ozark Christian College. Don preached a sermon entitled, "The only commandment the virgin Mary ever gave." What was that commandment? DO WHATEVER HE TELLS YOU.
God bless all mothers who have said to her children, "Do whatever Jesus said" or "Do what the Bible teaches." And what made this command better was when Mother set a good example in following the words of Jesus.
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A little boy forgot his lines in a Sunday school presentation. His mother was in the front row to prompt him. She gestured and formed the words silently with her lips, but it did not help. Her son's memory was blank. Finally, she leaned forward and whispered the cue, "I am the light of the world." The child beamed and with great feeling and a loud clear voice said, "My mother is the light of the world!"
Many mothers have been a light in this world in the sense of living by faith in the Lord. There is no better example that a mother could give to her children than living by faith in the Lord.
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One young preacher who just lost his mother in death, wrote: "I can remember that nearly every night mother had a family time. She would read a Bible story, and get us all on our knees afterward and pray for each of us by name. She also loved to read and mark up her Bible."
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Alexander Campbell of the early 1800's, said of his mother, "Having a particularly ready and retentive memory, she treasured up the Scriptures early in life, and could quote and apply them with great fluency and pertinency from childhood to old age."
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When Preacher John Wesley was a student at Oxford University he was shocked by the amount of drinking done by the students. After writing to his mother, Susanna Wesley, for her counsel, he received the following words: "My dear son: remember that anything which increases the authority of the body over the mind is an evil thing."
(From a sermon by Steve Shepherd, Mother, May I?, 5/2/2011)