Qualities of a Godly Mother
Proverbs 31:28
Mother’s Day 1999
May 9, 1999
INTRODUCTION
Psychologist Cartoon
"Let’s see, you spend 50 percent of your energy on your work, you spend 50 percent of your energy on your husband and 50 percent of your energy on your children. I think I see your problem"
A child without a mother is like a door without a knob - Jewish Proverb
Biblical Examples of Godly mothers
Eve - literally means the mother of all
Sarah - The elderly mother who laughed at the notion of having children. She gave birth to Isaac
Naomi - Faithful mother-in-law to Ruth. her faithfulness to her family would produce the line of David
Hannah - Mother who prayed for god to give her a child. She gave birth to Samuel.
Mary - The mother of Jesus
What would we do without our mothers or wives?
It is safe to say that we would be lost without them, we would not exist without them, mothers play such an important role in the fabric of life, literally the mothers of our nation shape the future, the role of a mother is critical to proper development of healthy children,
The origin of Mother’s Day
A. One woman’s dream: Just after the Civil war one woman had a dream to reunite the nation, it would be a day to remember mothers who lost their sons in the war, Anna Reeves Jarvis wanted to create a memorial day for mothers, one of Jarvis’ youngest children saw her mothers efforts to reunite a war torn nation
B. The dream passed on: When her mother died Anna was determined to see her mother’s dream come true, Anna established the first Mothers day in honor of her mother, that was 1907 in Grafton WV, by 1910 the day was celebrated in forty five states, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Canada and Mexico, May 8 1914 - Woodrow Wilson designated the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day
C. The dream still alive:
A good mother is like Christ in many ways. She is more concerned about the well being of her children than her own. What are the qualities of a godly Mother?
Body
I. Self Sacrifice
A. The story of David Llyod George
1. Mothers love: Young mother was traveling across South Wales, carrying a tiny baby when she was suddenly overtaken by a fierce snow storm, the woman never reached her destination, when the storm subsided a large search party went out looking for her and the child, they discovered the woman dead from exposure, to the search parties surprise the child was still alive
2. The sacrifice: The child’s mother had taken off her outer clothing and bundled the child inside it, the mother had mounded her body over the child, she gave her life to save the baby, years later the child, David Llyod George, grew to become Prime Minister of Great Britain, one of England’s greatest statesmen - all because of one mothers self sacrifice
B. The sacrifice a mother makes
Mothers make a variety of sacrifices on behalf of their family, sometimes even sacrificing their own life, it is clear that we often overlook the sacrifices that mothers make
* Physical: Mothers make physical sacrifices from the beginning of motherhood, pain of labor, daily routines that drain, the sacrifice of physical needs and wants
Value of Mothers _ Larry Burkett
Roles - Mothers and Wives fill a lot of different roles and functions, Nurse to social secretary, dietitian to gardener, chauffeur to housekeeper, many thankless jobs and receive little to no credit
Salary they would earn for this work - average over $513 dollars per week with an average of about 100 hours per week, the women in our lives do a lot for us
* Emotional: No one has more of an emotional investment in children, times when children break a mothers heart, times when the emotional investment returns void, times when they hurt because their children hurt, time when the loss seems greater than the gain,
* Spiritual: Training up of children in the spiritual aspects of life, times of prayer for children,
II. Boundless Grace
A. Mother’s Day Card Prayer
1. Mother’s Day Card - Big card with child’s printing for lettering, front had a little boy with untied shoes, a red wagon, toys strung everywhere and smudged and dirty face
2. The Prayer: The caption states: Mom, I remember the little prayer you used to say for me everyday. Inside - God help me if you ever do that again
B. The Grace of a godly mother
1. The quality: A mothers grace is the closest human equivalent to God’s grace, the grace of a mother truly seems to have little to no bounds, mothers may lose their patience, lose their temper, may even feel like they are losing their minds but they never lose their grace, godly mothers have a sense of forgiveness and a general graciousness that will never go away
2. The basis: Why is this true?, A godly mother gets her grace from God, only God could give such a grace, grace that becomes the strength and foundation of mother’s courage and faithfulness to her family, it is this grace that gives mother the ability to forgive and accept her children after they fail, it is this grace that truly makes childhood sweet,
III. Completeness of Belief
A. Godly mothers must believe in God: This seems rather redundant but its true, godly mothers need to believe in God, they need to believe that God will perfect His plan for the children and that God is in control of any and every situation in life, Mothers have to trust that God will finish His plan with the best possible outcome
B. Mothers believe in their children: Mothers may not always believe what their children tell them but mothers need to always believe in their children, mothers tend to see the potential where others do not, mothers tend to believe the best and see the best where others miss
IV. Endless love
A. The key ingredient: All of the other qualities of the godly mother are hinged on this one quality, LOVE, Love is the major driving force in the godly mother, not only a love for their children, not only a love for their husband, godly mothers must have a deep and unswerving love for God, this love is what motivates and develops the rest of the love that is in their life, without the love for God - the rest of their life and love will be incomplete
B. Love is fuel for life
When life gets rough - love gives strength
When life gets tough - love gives power
When life lets you down - love gives encouragement
When life seems empty - love gives meaning
When life gets mundane - love gives enthusiasm
When life seems sad - love gives joy
When life gets confusing - love gives clarity
CONCLUSION
No one is poor who has had a godly mother - Abraham Lincoln
Q - How can we truly pay tribute to our mothers and wives?
A. Pray for them:
1 Pray for strength
2. Pray for wisdom
3. Pray for spiritual passion
B. Appreciate them
1. The work is never done: A mothers work is never done, we know how hard our wives and mothers work to take care of us, how often do we take the time to thank them for all that they do, one day a year is not nearly enough to them justice, the fact remains that we would be lost without them
2. An exercise in thankfulness: Make a list of 31 things that you mother
or wife does for you that she seldom ever gets thanked for, over the next 31 days find a way to thank her specifically for each item on the list, this will let them know that you appreciate them and it will be far better gift than anything you can buy at the store.
C. Love them:
1. Tell them you love them
2. Show them how much you care
3. Honor them everyday
