Thanks Mom!

Thanks, in part, to my Mother, I had a drug problem when I was young.

I was drug to church for Bible class on Sunday morning, and then drug to worship services and then drug to church again on Sunday evening.

I was drug to Wednesday night Bible studys. I was also drug to gospel meetings and Vacation Bible School and youth activities.

I was drug to family reunions.

I was drug to the bus stop to go to school every weekday.

When I disobeyed my parents I was also drug to the woodshed.

These drugs are still in my veins; and they affect my behavior in every thing I do, say, and think. They are stronger than cocaine, crack, or heroin, and if today’s children had this kind of drug problem, America might be a better place. Thank-you, Mom, for the drug problem that has saved my life.

Spanish proverb: An ounce of mother is worth a ton of priest.

A man came home from work one day to find his kids outside in their pajamas playing with a water hose in a mud puddle, totally filthy and making mud pies. As he approached the house he noticed a pile of toys and dirt in front of the door. He quickly stepped over the pile, opened the door and beheld what looked like the remains of a war. There was food and there were dishes randomly strewn here and there and a pile of dirty clothes at the foot of the stairs. He began to call for his wife and heard her voice upstairs coming from their bedroom. He rushed up the stairs dodging obstacles as he went and burst into the door of his bedroom only to find his wife sitting up in bed reading a book.

“Are you all right?” He asked. “Yes.” She said. “Well what’s going on?” He demanded. She replied, “You know how every day when you come home you laugh and ask me what I did all day? Well, today I didn’t do it.”

Men, our jobs are often pretty clear cut. We know when we are on the clock and when we are off. Most men can see if they have done a good job or a bad job at their work by simply whether or not they got it done right and on time. Even in construction and education there are deadlines and final exams that measure how we are doing. Success or failure are easily measured and evaluated in a corporate world of work. Now… let’s compare that to motherhood.

Many a mother spends long hours of sleepless nights wondering if they are doing the right thing with their children. The victory of one day turns into the disaster of the next.

I remember when my mom once said, “It was a lot easier to take care of you kids when you were young enough for me to think for you.” In our early years Mom had a way of bending our minds in the direction she wanted them to go. But then we grew up. We didn’t always listen to the instructions of Mom and Dad. There were other voices saying things that sounded attractive and interesting. A mother may not be sure she’s successful in her work of raising children until years after she begins the job. Most jobs come with a job description. Babies, on the other hand are not born with instructions attached or included. There are no labels. And every one of them comes with a different set of characteristics, emotions, temperaments, strengths and weaknesses. You can’t order them to specs. What you get is… well, what you get. Motherhood can be overwhelming. So what’s a mother to do?

Let me point out here that one of the best instruction books in the Bible for raising children is the book of proverbs. God’s word is filled with wonderful instruction about life, but I’m just telling you… Proverbs are great for instruction on child rearing. It’s filled with short practical applications of the Law and wisdom of God.

Ok, now we turn to our text in 2 Timothy.

You’ve got to love what the Lord tells us in 2 Timothy 3:14-15.

14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them,

15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Mom’s, listen to this and be blessed. This is the apostle Paul telling a faithful young Christian preacher some things to remember. These things are the very things that have brought Timothy this far.

#1 Continue in the things which you have learned… Do you get this? He’s been doing it anyway. This is simply an encouragement to keep it up. Who started the “things” Timothy was to continue in? The answer to that is found in the first chapter in verse 5.