A Mother’s Comfort

How many of us have experienced our mother’s comfort? We fell off our bike and she picked us up. We were rejected by a boy we liked and she comforted us. We didn’t make it in to the college of our choice and she comforted us. Our mothers hug us, kiss us, find us our favorite toy, take us to a movie, and give us words of encouragement. God understands comforting His children like a mother does. In Isaiah 66 He speaks to the nation of Israel about the evil people that surround them. He comforts them with words about how He will take care of their enemies. He reminds them that judgment day will come and that will take care of them and bless them. They will see and rejoice at what God does. God knows everyone understands their mother’s comfort. He speaks through Isaiah and tells the people the following in Isaiah 66:13-

“As a mother comforts her son, so I will comfort you, and you will be comforted in Jerusalem.

In this simple statement there is comfort, just to know God loves us like our mom’s love us. There is also comfort in the fact that this is an absolute. There is no doubt that God will comfort and take care of His children. He proclaims “you will” be comforted. What a blessing to know that the trials will end and God will comfort. What a comfort to know that God will take care of the enemy and we will rejoice when it is done. There will be an end to pain, suffering and sorrow. What an encouragement that we will be comforted by God like our mothers comforted us as children.

Moms Know What’s Best

Most moms have a lot of common sense.  They know how to distinguish what is really important and what is not.  Most kids don’t have a lot of common sense built in to them when they are born.  They need to learn it as they experience life.  If kids would pay attention to what their moms advise they would learn common sense a whole lot faster.  Moms need to use common sense sometimes to “pick their battles” as the saying goes.  In one very important battle in the Bible, two mom’s make very different choices.  In the end the one with common sense and true love for the infant wins out.  In 1 Kings 3:23-28 we read:

“23 The king replied, “This woman says, ‘This is my son who is alive, and your son is dead,’ but that woman says, ‘No, your son is dead, and my son is alive.’ ” 24 The king continued, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought the sword to the king. 25 Solomon said, “Cut the living boy in two and give half to one and half to the other.” 26 The woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she felt great compassion for her son. “My lord, give her the living baby,” she said, “but please don’t have him killed!” But the other one said, “He will not be mine or yours. Cut [him in two]!” 27 The king responded, “Give the living baby to the first woman, and don’t kill him. She is his mother.” 28 All Israel heard about the judgment the king had given, and they stood in awe of the king because they saw that God’s wisdom was in him to carry out justice.”

So my advice to kids is, “Listen to your moms.”  They love you, have more common sense than you, and want what is best for you.  Your mom isn’t going to deliberately give you bad advice.  So kids, grow your common sense base by listening to your mom’s common sense.

Handle With Care

Sometimes we see on packages the instructions “Handle with Care” or “Fragile” written on them.  It’s important to pay attention to instructions when we come across them.  If we didn’t follow those particular instructions, we could break something very valuable.  That happened to us one time.  Some relatives from back East shipped us a beautiful, antique engraved crystal vase.  It was a family heirloom that was a wedding gift to a relative 150 years ago.  It came with an antique photo of the woman with the vase.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t handled with care, which ended in its destruction.

God had some important instructions for us to follow too.  In the Old Testament He told the Israelites in Exodus 20:12 –

“Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.”

Then Jesus thought it was important enough to repeat in Luke 18:20 –

“You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not bear false witness; honor your father and mother.”

In other words, nothing has changed, God expects us to still honor our parents.  To honor means 1) To hold in respect; esteem, or 2) To show respect for, or 3) To confer distinction on.  God knows that we sometimes won’t agree with our parents.  God knows that we won’t necessarily have the same lifestyles or likes as our parents.  Yet, God still expects and commands us to honor them.  After all God placed them in our lives.  He made them our authority.  Even when we don’t agree with our parents, this gives us a chance to apply biblical principles as we develop our relationship with our parents.  It is also a means to show God’s love to them, even when we disagree.

If we don’t follow God’s instructions about our parents then we may end up with a relationship that is like that “Handle with Care” packaged vase that arrived in a million pieces.  Take time to show your appreciation to your mom, no matter what your history with her is.  Take time to honor and love her as God expects you to do.  Bless your mom with your love.

Wise Moms Pass the Torch

There are many things that we receive from our moms.  They pass down special bits of wisdom and advice to us.  They teach us how to do things.  They warn us about the dangers in life, from playing with BB guns to cheating on tests to not marrying the right person.  The wisdom of a mom is best seen when she passes down the torch of faith in God.  What better love and guidance could a mom give a child then to lead them to Jesus who will far better provide and take care of the child?

Especially today, we see many moms leaving it up to their kids to decide if they want to go to church.  They will even let them chose which religion.  Worse yet, they let them go out in to the world of myriad of faiths and let them try to determine what is true and false.  Then there are others that let the child chose activities such as little league over church on Sundays.  These moms think that a child will naturally find their way to what is right or that every road leads to Heaven.  They think if they raise their child to be the best person they can be that that is all that is really important.  This is the furthest from the truth.  A child has no earthly or spiritual wisdom.  They are young and uninformed.  Anyone could tell them what they think is right and they would believe them.  It’s up to moms to protect, lead and guide the child until they are old enough to know better.

One great example is found in II Timothy 1:5 -

“…clearly recalling your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois, then in your mother Eunice, and that I am convinced is in you also.”

Both Timothy’s grandmother and mother had passed on the torch.  As a result a child grew in to a fighter for the faith, a preacher, a leader in God’s church.  If they had just accepted Christ, but didn’t share, where would Timothy be?  I can think of two such examples of Christian moms who did not teach their child about their faith.  One felt the child would grow up and figure it out.  That child has grown up and still does not know Jesus as their personal Savior.  Another child was allowed to go to whatever religious school or church they chose.  The child was in a variety of denominations due to relative’s church’s and local area ministries.  Eventually that child stumbled in to faith in Jesus in a Biblically founded denomination and is now a minister.  The minimal guidance the second mom provided help set the child on a right path, but with a little more regular guidance the child wouldn’t have taken years and a variety of churches to come to the faith.

As Christian mom, true wisdom would be to make every effort to pass the torch of your faith in God on to your child.  Protect and guide the child in love to Jesus.  Don’t leave them to the world and its ruler.

Thank you to all the Christian moms who have passed the torch.  Keep up the great work for the Lord!

A Seat At the Table

When I was a kid a read a book called “The empty chair” by Bess Kaplan.  It was a book about a child learning to deal with the death of her mother and the new step mother.  The mom’s chair was now empty and for the daughter it still continued to represent her mother.  As Christians we need an empty chair to remind us that God exists in our lives.  A seat should exist at our table of life that helps us to realize that God is right there with us.  Sometimes because of God’s invisible nature we forget that He exists in our lives.  We forget that when we accept Jesus in to our heart He goes everywhere with us from then on out.  The problem is that we don’t physically see Him so we have a tendency to just go where we want, do what we want and say what we want.  If we stopped to analyze what we were doing and saying, we might realize that some of those things Jesus would not approve of.  The prophet Isaiah reminded the people of Israel of the same concept in Isaiah 40:27 –

“Jacob, why do you say, and Israel, why do you assert: “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my claim is ignored by my God”?”

Israel was acting like God couldn’t see what they were doing.  In truth God was seeing everything and was disgusted.  He gave them multiple prophets and warnings to give them a chance to come around and live godly, but eventually He had to deal with their sin.  He had to give them a physical reminder that He was there and that He did care about their lives and actions.  He brought the enemy down on them as punishment.

Common sense should tell us that the God we believe in knows and sees everything.  We, like Israel, cannot hide our ways from Him.  We need to put a seat at our table to remind us physically that God is here and a part of our lives.  We need to maybe look at that empty seat in the theatre or that empty chair in the living room or that empty guest chair at our desk as the spot where Jesus sits.  Then maybe we would use more common sense and not do things Jesus would not approve of.

A Mother’s Comfort

How many of us have experienced our mother’s comfort? We fell off our bike and she picked us up. We were rejected by a boy we liked and she comforted us. We didn’t make it in to the college of our choice and she comforted us. Our mothers hug us, kiss us, find us our favorite toy, take us to a movie, and give us words of encouragement. God understands comforting His children like a mother does. In Isaiah 66 He speaks to the nation of Israel about the evil people that surround them. He comforts them with words about how He will take care of their enemies. He reminds them that judgment day will come and that will take care of them and bless them. They will see and rejoice at what God does. God knows everyone understands their mother’s comfort. He speaks through Isaiah and tells the people the following in Isaiah 66:13-

“As a mother comforts her son, so I will comfort you, and you will be comforted in Jerusalem.

In this simple statement there is comfort, just to know God loves us like our mom’s love us. There is also comfort in the fact that this is an absolute. There is no doubt that God will comfort and take care of His children. He proclaims “you will” be comforted. What a blessing to know that the trials will end and God will comfort. What a comfort to know that God will take care of the enemy and we will rejoice when it is done. There will be an end to pain, suffering and sorrow. What an encouragement that we will be comforted by God like our mothers comforted us as children.

Moms Know What’s Best

Most moms have a lot of common sense.  They know how to distinguish what is really important and what is not.  Most kids don’t have a lot of common sense built in to them when they are born.  They need to learn it as they experience life.  If kids would pay attention to what their moms advise they would learn common sense a whole lot faster.  Moms need to use common sense sometimes to “pick their battles” as the saying goes.  In one very important battle in the Bible, two mom’s make very different choices.  In the end the one with common sense and true love for the infant wins out.  In 1 Kings 3:23-28 we read:

“23 The king replied, “This woman says, ‘This is my son who is alive, and your son is dead,’ but that woman says, ‘No, your son is dead, and my son is alive.’ ” 24 The king continued, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought the sword to the king. 25 Solomon said, “Cut the living boy in two and give half to one and half to the other.” 26 The woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she felt great compassion for her son. “My lord, give her the living baby,” she said, “but please don’t have him killed!” But the other one said, “He will not be mine or yours. Cut [him in two]!” 27 The king responded, “Give the living baby to the first woman, and don’t kill him. She is his mother.” 28 All Israel heard about the judgment the king had given, and they stood in awe of the king because they saw that God’s wisdom was in him to carry out justice.”

So my advice to kids is, “Listen to your moms.”  They love you, have more common sense than you, and want what is best for you.  Your mom isn’t going to deliberately give you bad advice.  So kids, grow your common sense base by listening to your mom’s common sense.

Handle With Care

Sometimes we see on packages the instructions “Handle with Care” or “Fragile” written on them.  It’s important to pay attention to instructions when we come across them.  If we didn’t follow those particular instructions, we could break something very valuable.  That happened to us one time.  Some relatives from back East shipped us a beautiful, antique engraved crystal vase.  It was a family heirloom that was a wedding gift to a relative 150 years ago.  It came with an antique photo of the woman with the vase.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t handled with care, which ended in its destruction.

God had some important instructions for us to follow too.  In the Old Testament He told the Israelites in Exodus 20:12 –

“Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.”

Then Jesus thought it was important enough to repeat in Luke 18:20 –

“You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not bear false witness; honor your father and mother.”

In other words, nothing has changed, God expects us to still honor our parents.  To honor means 1) To hold in respect; esteem, or 2) To show respect for, or 3) To confer distinction on.  God knows that we sometimes won’t agree with our parents.  God knows that we won’t necessarily have the same lifestyles or likes as our parents.  Yet, God still expects and commands us to honor them.  After all God placed them in our lives.  He made them our authority.  Even when we don’t agree with our parents, this gives us a chance to apply biblical principles as we develop our relationship with our parents.  It is also a means to show God’s love to them, even when we disagree. 

If we don’t follow God’s instructions about our parents then we may end up with a relationship that is like that “Handle with Care” packaged vase that arrived in a million pieces.  Take time to show your appreciation to your mom, no matter what your history with her is.  Take time to honor and love her as God expects you to do.  Bless your mom with your love.

Wise Moms Pass the Torch

There are many things that we receive from our moms.  They pass down special bits of wisdom and advice to us.  They teach us how to do things.  They warn us about the dangers in life, from playing with BB guns to cheating on tests to not marrying the right person.  The wisdom of a mom is best seen when she passes down the torch of faith in God.  What better love and guidance could a mom give a child then to lead them to Jesus who will far better provide and take care of the child? 

Especially today, we see many moms leaving it up to their kids to decide if they want to go to church.  They will even let them chose which religion.  Worse yet, they let them go out in to the world of myriad of faiths and let them try to determine what is true and false.  Then there are others that let the child chose activities such as little league over church on Sundays.  These moms think that a child will naturally find their way to what is right or that every road leads to Heaven.  They think if they raise their child to be the best person they can be that that is all that is really important.  This is the furthest from the truth.  A child has no earthly or spiritual wisdom.  They are young and uninformed.  Anyone could tell them what they think is right and they would believe them.  It’s up to moms to protect, lead and guide the child until they are old enough to know better.

 One great example is found in II Timothy 1:5 -

 “…clearly recalling your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois, then in your mother Eunice, and that I am convinced is in you also.”

Both Timothy’s grandmother and mother had passed on the torch.  As a result a child grew in to a fighter for the faith, a preacher, a leader in God’s church.  If they had just accepted Christ, but didn’t share, where would Timothy be?  I can think of two such examples of Christian moms who did not teach their child about their faith.  One felt the child would grow up and figure it out.  That child has grown up and still does not know Jesus as their personal Savior.  Another child was allowed to go to whatever religious school or church they chose.  The child was in a variety of denominations due to relative’s church’s and local area ministries.  Eventually that child stumbled in to faith in Jesus in a Biblically founded denomination and is now a minister.  The minimal guidance the second mom provided help set the child on a right path, but with a little more regular guidance the child wouldn’t have taken years and a variety of churches to come to the faith.

As Christian mom, true wisdom would be to make every effort to pass the torch of your faith in God on to your child.  Protect and guide the child in love to Jesus.  Don’t leave them to the world and its ruler.

Thank you to all the Christian moms who have passed the torch.  Keep up the great work for the Lord!

It’s Not Nice To Fool Mother Nature

Did you ever see one of the Chiffon Margarine commercials from the 70′s?  Mother Nature would be sitting in the middle of nature with her little animals and someone would give her the new Chiffon Margarine and she would say it was butter and they would tell her no it was margarine.  She would then get angry and flash lightening and say, “You can’t fool Mother Nature!”  Well that is very true when it comes to God.  Nature knows who God is and that He is in control.  Read Job 12: 7-25 -

^7-12 “But ask the animals what they think—let them teach you;
   let the birds tell you what’s going on.
Put your ear to the earth—learn the basics.
   Listen—the fish in the ocean will tell you their stories.
Isn’t it clear that they all know and agree
   that God is sovereign, that he holds all things in his hand—
Every living soul, yes,
   every breathing creature?
Isn’t this all just common sense,
   as common as the sense of taste?
Do you think the elderly have a corner on wisdom,
   that you have to grow old before you understand life?

 ^13-25 “True wisdom and real power belong to God;
   from him we learn how to live,
   and also what to live for.
If he tears something down, it’s down for good;
   if he locks people up, they’re locked up for good.
If he holds back the rain, there’s a drought;
   if he lets it loose, there’s a flood.
Strength and success belong to God;
   both deceived and deceiver must answer to him.
He strips experts of their vaunted credentials,
   exposes judges as witless fools.
He divests kings of their royal garments,
   then ties a rag around their waists.
He strips priests of their robes,
   and fires high officials from their jobs.
He forces trusted sages to keep silence,
   deprives elders of their good sense and wisdom.
He dumps contempt on famous people,
   disarms the strong and mighty.
He shines a spotlight into caves of darkness,
   hauls deepest darkness into the noonday sun.
He makes nations rise and then fall,
   builds up some and abandons others.
He robs world leaders of their reason,
   and sends them off into no-man’s-land.
They grope in the dark without a clue,
   lurching and staggering like drunks.”

Job is responding to his critical friends in this passage.  They think they are so wise and know all the answers to his problems.  Job tells them that common sense will tell them what the animals and nature already know.  All they have to do is to ask the animals (examine nature) and they will show that God has all the power and is in control of everything.  There are other passages in the Bible that teach us the same concept.  Nature points to God.  We can’t fool nature with all our man made wisdom.  Take a look around and you too will see God’s hand in nature and you will grow to appreciated Him even more.  You will grow to understand how much God is in control of everything in our lives.