Happy Mother’s Day, God’s way!

In my opinion, mothers should be honored much more often than once a year. Although some mothers are not worthy of honor, most of the mothers I have known are more precious than gold!
Being a wife and mother is not an easy task. It requires much giving with a disproportionately small amount of getting. It requires following, even when you know it is the wrong way. Success in this comes to those who have the right spirit. Let’s look at four of them.
1) A reverent spirit. The last verse of Ephesians 5 admonishes, “and the wife, see that she reverence her husband.” This does not mean worship nor does it mean she is blind to her husband’s weaknesses. Peter speaks of Sarah calling her husband “Lord.” (1 Peter 3:6). Significantly, he says that the holy woman of old did not need to trust their husbands to follow her example. They “trusted in God.” (v.5) In other words, they so trusted God’s sovereign, loving control that they believed God could even bring good from the mistakes of their husbands. Sarah certainly saw that happen.
2) A servant spirit. God created the woman to be the helper of her husband so that, together, they can accomplish His will. She is born to be a servant. If this sounds demeaning, remember that Jesus said He came to be a servant as well. (Matt. 20:28) You are in good company! A servant is someone whose goal is to make someone else a success. A wife who publicly criticizes her husband is declaring that she is failing at her primary task!
3) A grateful spirit. Gratefulness is admonished of us all (1 Thess. 5:18) but it is especially powerful in a wife and mother. Gratefulness flows from contentment. (1 Tim. 6:8) It is saying, “I am thankful for where I am and what I have. I am satisfied in God.” Such a spirit will naturally flow into the hearts of her children and make her home a little bit of heaven on earth.
4) A meek and quiet spirit. Peter again says, “Whose adorning let it be . . . the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.” (3:3-4) This would be the opposite of a contentious and an angry woman, mentioned in Proverbs 21:19. It is the spirit of Christ for He said, “I am meek and lowly in heart.” (Matt. 11:29) Meekness is not weakness but strength under control. It is giving my expectations to God to be fulfilled in His time and way. (Psalm 62:5) It is resting quietly in the Lord. God counts this spirit very precious indeed!
Thank God for the godly women in our midst! We husbands, parents, and children rise up and call you blessed! (Prov. 31:28)

Granted, marriage is the usual path taken by young adults. After all, this is God’s design for bringing children into the world. But it should not be thought of as the ‘normal path.’ It is also ‘normal’ to stay single, according to Scripture.
The most extensive passage on the subject is in 1 Corinthians chapter 7. Verse 27 admonishes, “Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.” How contrary this is to the normal thinking of our society! When I was in college, some seniors experienced what was called “senior panic.” Students about to graduate realized that the quantity of potential mates was about to be dramatically reduced! In their panic, they lowered their standard and increased their search intensity. I know of one senior who was engaged two weeks after meeting a girl. Whew! Just under the wire!
We could understand this thinking from the world, but it is out of place for the trusting Christian, whether male or female. God is sovereign, right? So He is able to bring two young people together at the proper time, right? That means, if we are walking by faith, we will trust and not fret about the matter of marriage.
Paul goes on in the passage to list the reasons for the admonition. First, marriage brings trouble in the flesh. (28) Second, the time is short and it is better to concentrate on our present service. After all, this world is quickly passing away. (29-31) Third, marriage rearranges our priorities. (32-35). A single person can concentration on his or her service for God, while a married person is expected to bump that priority below pleasing his wife or her husband. One definition of ‘please’ here is “to accommodate one’s self to the opinions, desires, and interests of others.” It is, of course, assumed that the single person is desiring first to please (same word) and serve the Lord. Your extra free time is so “. . . that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.” (35)
Paul is not saying that marriage is sin, or even bad as some have accused him. He is just saying that, if God so call you, you can accomplish more for God single than married. He is focusing not on what you don’t have (a mate) but on what you do have (more time and attention to serve Christ), not on the freedom you have to ‘not be tied down,’ but on the freedom to give more time for God’s service now.
It behooves the church to honor the single young people who, for however long, use their time and talents to serve Him.  They may be pitied by some, but they are honored and blessed by the Lord. We should also keep before them this thinking: if God brings a mate into your life, wonderful! In the meantime, instead of focusing on the search, concentrate on His service.

How will your decisions today affect the generation to come?

Before you’re turned off by the title of this article, hear me out.

“You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.”
-Adrian Rodgers-

What is a parent’s first priority?

“I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.”
—Winston Churchill

The first year we were married, over 40 years ago now, we heard this prayer every week on a Christian radio station. It so expressed God’s will for a home that I prayed it at each of the weddings of my children, and a number of other weddings as well.

I have been asked to write a weekly article on the family for our church bulletin and I will be posting them here. If they are a help, or if you want to ask a question, drop me a line.

“Those who lack friends to open themselves unto are cannibals of their own hearts….This communicating of a man’s self to his friends works two contrary effects; for it redoubles joys and cuts griefs in half.” (Francis Bacon 1625)