Indeed, how valuable and important a mother is; but alas, only to be recognized when she is sick, away or gone from this life. In the Bible the apostle Paul said,

“I thank God . . . when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in . . . your mother.” --2 Timothy 1:3,5

Paul thanked God for the mother of Timothy his faithful co-worker. For he had been blessed with a godly mother. Perhaps you too have been blessed with a Christian heritage of having a Christian mother. This is not to forsake the memory, value and goodness of any mother Christian or not, but a “Christian” mother in God’s eyes has so much more value. Why? Because she knows the King of Kings, the Lord Jesus Christ as her personal Savior, and more she is surrendered to do God’s will for her life and family and for the kingdom of Christ to come.

In the first century, Paul was able to lead this young teenager, Timothy,  to Christ whereupon he gave his life to loving and serving the Lord Jesus. Timothy in the Bible, became a great man and worker in God’s kingdom. Why? Very simply Paul said it was because of the faithful mothering his mother Eunice provided in growing this young boy for the Lord. Abraham Lincoln once said,

"All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother."

Why even the most recognized founder of our nation, George Washington said,

"My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her."

These men were great men of history not because they simply had it in them from birth, no because they had great and godly mothers who dedicated themselves to rearing godly children to become great godly men. Abraham Lincoln went on to say,

 "I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. 
They have clung to me all my life."

  Indeed a praying mother is the most beautiful picture of heaven and home one can ever have. But perhaps the most insightful saying left to us is the one an anonymous speaker said,

"The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother."

  I think that is the essence of Mother’s Day. A family that loves and respects Mom! So Mother’s Day is set aside to honor the greatest force in humanity, which is “the hand that rocks the cradle, ultimately rules the world!” But for a Christian, it all is centered in finding out and doing God’s will through prayer and obedience to His Word on matters of the heart and home.

  Now in the Bible there are many examples of great men who were great because of their mothers. Yes, think of some of these great men ¾ Men like Moses, Samuel, and Timothy. Where would they have been had it not been for their praying, Spirit-led mothers? Think of church fathers in later years such as Augustine, John Newton, Martin Luther and the zealous Wesleys; their names may never have lighted the pages of history had it not been for the blessed influence of their godly mothers! One instance is in the story of the birth of Moses. The Bible tells us there was a woman named Jocabed, who was the birth mother of Moses.  When Pharaoh of Egypt determined to kill all the newborn Hebrew children, she and her husband hid him and then floated him down the Nile River in a basket towards the unmarried daughter of Pharaoh bathing in the Nile. When she saw the little baby she took him in to be her son. Jocabed was willing to give up her son to save his life. God honored that and through circumstances give him back to her to care for him as his “nanny.” Yes, Jocabed trained Moses from a child to know the Holy Scriptures, and in the ways of her faith. The result? Well, in later years that faith remained and blossomed. God used Moses as one of the greatest servants of God in history. The Bible says about her and him,

Heb 11:23-26 (NIV)  By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. 24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.

  Yes, it was in later years even though Moses was reared as a pagan Egyptian in all the godless schooling of the day, Jocabed his mother was his “nanny,” and she trained him God’s way, which lasted a lifetime. How valuable a mother is and how much power she has in truly shaping her children for greatness and, for God. Another great man of the past century once said in tribute to his mother,

“I did not have my mother long, but she cast over me an influence which has lasted all my life. The good effects of her early training I can never lose. If it had not been for her appreciation and her faith in me at a critical time in my experience, I should never likely have become an inventor. I was always a careless boy, and with a mother of different mental caliber, I should have turned out badly. But her firmness, her sweetness, her goodness were potent powers to keep me in the right path. My mother was the making of me.” 
                                                   -- So wrote the great inventor, Thomas Edison.

  Yes, today is Mother’s Day, and the question is how will you honor your mother? I hope most of all, that you will do so in ways God approves. For honor is a command that God gives for us all to do towards our mother’s not just one day a year but every day. Listen to the Bible’s commands in this area,

Prov 1:8 (NIV)  “…do not forsake your mother’s teaching.”

Prov 23:22 (NIV)  “do not despise your mother when she is old.”

Prov 10:1 (NIV)  “A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son grief to his mother.

  God is vitally concerned about how we treat our parents, especially our mothers. God demands that we respect them, and in the early years of growing up we are to fully “obey” the law of our mothers. Later when adulthood comes upon us, that obedience turns to “honor.” Such honor means care and provision in old age. So many mothers are abandoned to old age homes, when they could be better cared for by their children. But this happens because selfishness rules many hearts today, even Christians, and such care and honor is relegated to the welfare state. Now I realize that and age may come where proper nursing care is needed for the aged that we simply can’t provide in our homes. But all too often, that care comes too early just for the convenience of children who do not want their lives disturbed by caring for their mothers and fathers. That is not honor, and God is greatly displeased. Let us all be reminded of the great sacrifices our mothers made to rear us, and the great debt we owe to them. This reminds me of a cute story.

  A teacher in one of our public schools put this question to little boy in math class, “James, suppose your mother made a peach pie, and there were ten of you at the table—your mother and father and eight children—how much of the pie would each  get?” “A ninth, ma’am,” was the prompt answer. “No, no, James, now pay attention,” said the teacher. “There are ten of you. Ten, remember. Don’t you know your fractions?” “Yes, ma’am,” was the swift reply of young James, “I know my fractions, but I also know my mother, too. She’d say that she didn’t want any pie.”

  We laugh at such a story but we all know how true it is. The sacrifice of our mother’s even in the smallest fashion was always their mark of sacrificial love.

But you know talking about sacrificial love, the greatest sacrificial love ever recorded in the annals of history is written in the Bible. We are told,

  John 3:16-17 (NIV)  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Yes, the Bible tells us the very traits and attributes mothers so lovingly display, really are a picture of God’s love for His children by creation. Indeed, all of us know God as our Creator; all of us know God as our Sustainer; and, all of us know God as our Provider. The Bible says,

Gen 1:26-27 (NIV)  Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness… 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Ezek 18:4 (NIV)  For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son—both alike belong to me…”

Acts 17:26-28 (NIV)  From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

  Yes, God created us and we all are His children. We know Him as Creator, Sustainer and provider, everyone of us, whether we acknowledge it or not. But not everyone knows this great Creator God as their Savior. That is the most important thing we can do, even this Mother’s Day, to honor our Moms is to give our heart anew and afresh to Jesus Christ our God come in the flesh of humanity, and crown Him our Savior and Lord.

  How every Christian mother longs for her children to come and know the Savior. Do you my friend? Have you surrendered your heart to Christ? I want to close with this touching story,

An old woman tripped and fell from the top of a stone stairway in Boston as she was coming out of the police station. They called an ambulance and carried her to the hospital and the doctor examining her said to the nurse, “She will not live more than a day.”

 When the nurse had won her confidence the old woman said, “I have traveled from California, stopping at every city of importance between San Francisco and Boston, visiting two places always—the police station and the hospital. My boy went away from me and did not tell me where he was going, so I have sold all my property and made this journey to seek him out. Someday, he may come into this hospital, and if he does tell him that there were two who never gave him up.”