THE GREATEST GIFT TO GIVE MOM ON MOTHER’S DAY
Exodus 20:12
Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long upon the land which Jehovah your God gives you.
Introduction: Mother’s Day poses problems for most men – especially what NOT to buy your wife. Although the only person a man usually shops for is his wife, the whole experience is a stressful one. Many a man has felt extreme frigid temperatures for a long period based on a poor present decision. As a veteran of these wars, I’m still not sure what to buy my wife, but I’ll pass on what not to buy her:
1. Don’t buy anything that plugs in. Anything that requires electricity is seen as utilitarian.
2. Don’t buy clothing that involves sizes. The chances are one in seven thousand that you will get her size right, and your wife will be offended the other 6999 times. “Do I look like a size 16?” she’ll say. Too small a size doesn’t cut it either: “I haven’t worn a size 8 in 20 years!”
3. Avoid all things useful. The new silver polish advertised to save hundreds of hours is not going to win you any brownie points.
4. Don’t buy anything that involves weight loss or self-improvement. She’ll perceive a six-month membership to a diet center as a suggestion that’s she’s overweight.
5. Don’t buy jewelry. The jewelry your wife wants, you can’t afford. And the jewelry you can afford, she doesn’t want.
6. Finally, don’t spend too much. “How do you think we’re going to afford that?” she’ll ask. But don’t spend too little. She won’t say anything, but she’ll think, “Is that all I’m worth?” – adapted from Herb Forst in Cross River, NY, Patent Trader, in Reader’s Digest, p. 69.
While dad has a hard time thinking about what to give mom, Mother’s Day is a day when children think about what they can give their mothers in order to show their love and pay honor to them. What is the greatest gift that you can give your mother not only for Mother’s Day but for the rest of her life? It is not a gift that can be bought in a store but one that every one of us can give to our mothers. It is the gift of knowing that her child is doing right, living right, and right with God.
I. You can give her the gift of a son or daughter who is doing right
A. Proverbs 23:23-25 Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding. The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice; and he who fathers a wise child shall have joy from him. Your father and your mother shall be glad, and she who bore you shall rejoice.
B. Proverbs 23:22-24 MSG Listen with respect to the father who raised you, and when your mother grows old, don’t neglect her. Buy truth--don’t sell it for love or money; buy wisdom, buy education, buy insight. Parents rejoice when their children turn out well; wise children become proud parents.
C. It is a mother’s nature to want to see her children excel in everything they do. They want them to do their best.
D. 3 John 2 I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you.”
E. Matthew 20:20-21 MKJV Then the mother of Zebedee’s children came to Him with her sons, worshiping and desiring a certain thing from Him. And He said to her, What do you desire? She said to Him, Grant that these my two sons may sit in Your kingdom, the one on Your right hand and the other on the left.
F. Susan Hutson is the proud mother of eighteen year old Colt Hutson. Colt has autism, neurological brain disorder that affects communication and social skills. She has spent many days and nights over the 18 years crying and depressed over Colt’s condition; but she has also had the blessing of seeing Colt do something one would never have expected. Colt is working at K-Mart in Jacksonville, Florida through a program with the Duvall County Public Schools. Susan Hutson said in an interview with The Florida Times Union, “When you have a child with a disability, you have to come to the realization that there are some things he may never do,". "I know Colt may never drive a car or hit a home run. I once thought he would never have a job and earn a paycheck. But now he’s doing that. I’m just so proud of him." (http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/120303/dsr_14197119.shtml)
G. Proverbs 10:1 The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a glad father; but a foolish son is the sorrow of his mother.
II. You can give her the gift a son or daughter who is living right
A. Ephesians 6:2 Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise),
B. On his way to the ecclesiastical hearing at Augsburg, when he feared the heretic’s stake lay ahead, Luther’s thoughts turned to the welfare of his mother and father. "Now I must die," he said. "What a disgrace I shall be to my parents!" - "Martin Luther--The Early Years," Christian History, no. 34.
C. Your actions speak loudly and are a reflection of your parents and your upbringing.
D. 3 John 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”
E. Proverbs 29:15 LITV The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a boy let loose causes shame to his mother (brings disgrace to his mother.)
F. Children, who are not properly disciplined, are among the most miserable of children and turn into miserable adults. Unruly and spoiled children are not the blessings that the Bible says they should be to parents.
G. At a banquet, the mother of George Washington was sitting beside a distinguished French officer. Turning to Washington’s mother, the officer asked, "How have you managed to rear such a splendid son?" She replied, "I taught him to obey."
H. Proverbs 19:26 He who assaults his father and chases away his mother is a son who causes shame and brings reproach.
I. Kids who lash out against their parents are an embarrassment and disgrace.
J. The life that you live may disgrace the fact that you are your mother’s child, but it cannot erase the fact. Likewise, the life that you live may disgrace the fact that you are a child of God, but it cannot erase that fact.
III. You can give her the gift of a son or a daughter who is right with God.
A. Proverbs 30:11-12 MKJV There is a generation that curses their father, and does not bless their mother. There is a generation that is pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their own filth.
B. The greatest blessing that a child can give his mother is to realize that he is a sinner in need of a Savior and to give his life completely to Christ.
C. Charles Spurgeon said, “I cannot tell how much I owe to the prayers of my good mother...I remember her once praying, “Now Lord, if my children go on in sin it will not be from ignorance that they perish, and my soul must bear swift witness against them at the day of judgment if they lay not hold on Christ and claim Him as their personal Savior.”
D. A mother is in anguish when she sees her children suffer in any way. Consider the tremendous anguish of a mother whose son or daughter dies unsaved and is burning in hell for eternity.
E. Luke 16:27-28 Then he said, I pray you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
F. Godly parents want to see their children saved, to have that peace of knowing that it is well with their children’s eternal destiny.
G. More important than success in this life, more important than happiness, fame or fortune is knowing Jesus Christ.
H. Mark 8:36 For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
The greatest gift you can give Mom on Mother’s Day is not something that you buy with money. It is not a gift that gives momentary satisfaction. The greatest gift you can give is that of showing her that you are doing and living right because you heart is right with God.
