Mothers: Passing It On

Passing It On

2 John 4

Introduction

Dr. James Dobson tells about a time he came home when his son, Ryan was a small baby. It had been a terrible day for his wife. Ryan had been sick, and had cried all day long. Once, as Shirley was changing his diapers, the telephone rang and she reached over to answer it before fastening up his diapers. Just then Ryan had an attack of diarrhea. She cleaned up that mess and put him in clean, sweet-smelling clothes. Then she took him into the living room and fed him. As she was burping him he threw up all over himself, and her and the couch too. Dobson said, “When I came home I could smell the aroma of motherhood everywhere.” Shirley cried out to him, “Was all of this in my contract?”

I suppose that if we were to take the time, every mother in here could tell similar stories of their own children, and what is really remarkable, as miserable as those days seemed at the time, they somehow give us joy and laughter as time passes and the kids grow.

Parenting is one of those things that if we knew what we were getting into, very few would probably go through with it. However, generally speaking, the rewards and joys of being a parent far outweigh the pain and sorrow.

But what if there were a contract? I gave some thought to this in preparation for this message and wondered: If God required parents to sign a contract before He gave children to them, what kinds of things might He require of the mother and father? I am certain that there are some things that He would require that you pass along to your children. What are some of those things? In this message, let’s consider some of the things that might appear on what we’ll call our Contract for Motherhood.

You Must Pass Along Your Faith

If God were writing the contract, He would place a trusting faith in Christ at the top of the list because it doesn’t matter what you’ve done with your life or what you’ve given to your children if you’ve not made a decision for Christ. You must be saved!

The Bible teaches us that the process doesn’t end there. After salvation you need to follow the Lord in Scriptural baptism in by joining a sound New Testament church.

Not only should you do this, but mothers, you need to pass it along. Don’t leave it up to your husband or your pastor or your church to lead your child to Christ – you take the initiative, you ensure that they have had the opportunity to be saved. This is going to require you to know how to do such a thing – but there is no greater thing to know than how to lead your child to Christ.

Just as surely as I am saying this and just as surely as the Bible teaches it though, I know that some of you mothers will not tell your children how to be saved, and you will not learn how to do it. If that is your decision, then make sure they are exposed to the gospel at church.

You Must Pass Along A Love For Others

I am not sure that there is a greater example of this on earth of the Father’s love than a godly mother. It is from the mother that most children will learn how to love and be loved. It is the mother that a child watches.

Those kids watch how you express your love to your spouse. They see how you love them. They observe daily whether you express love for other people, particularly people who are hard to love. You remember that Jesus said that it wasn’t much of a big deal for us to love our friends, but the real test of love is whether you can love those who are unlovable. Why does the love of man grow cold? Because they do not see it modeled like they should.

Mom, are you a loving person, or have the circumstances in your life calloused you? Have you become hard and uncaring, or do you have a genuine love for other people? I’m not suggesting that it is easy to love others, but I am suggesting that the generation of children coming up in this world need to see love being modeled in their lives, and you may very well be the greatest model of it they’ll have.

You Must Pass Along Godly Values

What kind of values am I speaking about? There are many, and I will only mention them in passing – you write them down and reflect on them in your life.

1. Will you pass on a high estimation of obedience? Or will you pass on a life of bending the rules and looking for loopholes in everything? Will your children learn about obedience to God from you? Will they learn about obedience in the workplace from you? Will they learn about obedience to the law from you?