We can't save our kids, but we can...

Below is a speech I gave on biblical motherhood last May.

Motherhood is a gift. A gift intentionally created and ordained by God for women. Motherhood was purposely created to glorify God and build His Kingdom. 

We were all made to be mothers. It’s innate in us. God specifically crafted women, his crowning jewel of creation, with skills and characteristics to be mothers, most of which don’t show up until we actually step into the role of motherhood. 

For most of us we respond to the physical call of motherhood—we’ve physically grown and bred a child or we’ve physically brought a child into our home through adoption or foster care. For others, we may have been called only to the role of spiritual motherhood—we’ve spiritually mentored, guided and discipled others just like we would have children of our own. 

It is something that cannot be taken away from us. It is forever, it always is. 

Before I get into this talk even further, I want to take some time to acknowledge the fact that there are probably women in the room who might be struggling with infertility, have struggled or have lived a long life and never actually bore a child of their own. I do not know that pain, but I have friends, very close friends that do. Please know that when I am addressing mothers today, I am absolutely addressing you, too. Like I said a little bit ago, most of us are called to be physical mothers, but some of us are also called to be spiritual mothers, which the Lord uniquely equipped you for and it is just as valuable.  

I’ll Love You Forever has always been one of my favorites. I was recently talking to a mom friend of mine about it and during our conversation she said, “Oh, I hate that book!.” I paused and graciously looked at her thinking, “Have you lost your mind?” You all are probably thinking the same thing, “How can you not like this book? It’s a classic!” The one you always grab to guarantee a cry or to remind you, in the hard days, how truly blessed you. 

She looked at me and said, I can’t get over the image of the mom crawling into her adult son's bedroom window and rocking him. It’s unbelievable and it weirds me out. I rolled my eyes and said, “Okay, true but it’s still a classic.” 

As I was laying in bed thinking through this talk I couldn’t help but think about what my friend had said to me. I was halfway cursing her because I felt like she had kind of ruined the book for me. But then it hit me. 

Yeah, an elderly mother loading up a ladder to the top of her station wagon, in the middle of the night and driving it to her adult son's house to crawl in through his window and rock him in bed and sing him a song to show him her love, is unbelievable, it’s actually unimaginable. When I think about my mother doing this, she would have just used her key and avoided the whole latter and climbing thing as a whole. 

But you know what, so is what Jesus did on the cross for us. He loaded up His cross, walked up the hill of Calvary, naked and crowned with thorns all to die a death to show us his love for us. His forever and always love. It’s unbelievable and unimaginable. 

Just like Jesus, this mother carried something big, cumbersome and heavy to a specific location.

Just like Jesus, this mother was vulnerable.

Just like Jesus, this mother put her safety on the line for an act of love. 

Just like Jesus, this mother loves her child, with a forever kind of love. 

But unlike Jesus, this mother's act of love doesn’t save her son from his sins. 

As mothers, this might be the hardest truth we have to accept. That no matter how much we love our children, our love has no bearing on their salvation or their relationship with Jesus. That is only done by God’s love in sending Jesus to the cross and the work of the Holy Spirit in their own hearts. 

So, if our role as a mother isn’t to love our children into eternal safety then what is it? What did God intend of mothers when he uniquely crafted women out of man in the garden(Gen 2:21-23)?

Throughout scripture we can find good, bad, great and ugly models of motherhood. Every word in scripture is intentionally placed. If God chooses to reveal someone's name then there is a purpose. Especially if it’s the name of a woman. God’s intentional mention of women throughout the Bible and the details of their stories, whether significant or seemingly insignificant proves that he values us.

I think too, when we see mother’s names listed one of the main reasons that God chose to reveal their name is to identify the significant role (good or bad) a mother has on their child's worldview, beliefs and behaviors. Now, I am not suggesting that a mother is solely responsible for their child’s actions, they have free will just like everyone else, but the influence that a mother has is extremely powerful and we see that all throughout scripture. 

The mention of women throughout the Bible is significant, all who were uniquely flawed, uniquely great and uniquely used by God for His purpose. Throughout their stories you can see a theme as they step into their gift of motherhood. 

A theme that answers our question from before: “What did God intend of mothers when he uniquely crafted women out of man in The Garden?” 

The answer, based on scripture: That as mothers we are called to model our faith, teach our children the ways of the Lord, and pray. That is our job. 

How do we know that? Let’s look at some examples God laid out for us. 

Modeled Faith: 

2 Timothy 1:5–Paul is praising Lois and Eunice for their sincere faith that now pours over into Timothy. I love this verse because it not only highlights the impact of a mother, but also a grandmother (which I know many of you are). My encouragement for you, grandmas, in regards to Lois and Eunice is to not quit. Don’t quit modeling faith until Jesus calls you home. God has greatly blessed me with a grandma who still runs her race with endurance and I pray that can be every grandchild's story. 

Ruth 1:15-16–Sweet and loyal Ruth might be my pillar of great faith for women in the Bible. In these verses we see that after she had lost everything she still chose to leave her homeland of Moab to go with her MIL Naomi to her homeland of Bethlehem. When Naomi tried to convince her to stay, she said, “For where you go, I will go and where you stay I will stay. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.” Talk about a leap of faith. For a Moabite woman to go into Israelite territory with only the faith that Naomi modeled for her to lead her. Through Ruth’s faith we see that God used her greatly as a crucial role in the line of Jesus and the grandmother of David. If you think about it, the stories of Ruth’s loyalty and faith probably had a significant impact on David’s character. 

Luke 1:38–Then there’s Mary. Another pillar of great faith as she faced the news that Gabrielle was bringing her. After she asked a single clarifying statement she proceeded to respond with, “I am the Lord’s servant.” A young, betrothed virgin, without hesitation trusted that what the angel said was true. That she would indeed give birth to the savior of the world. We idolize the faith of Mary today, sometimes maybe too much, but she indeed modeled great faith for us to learn and grow from. 

I could go in detail for hours with the history of faithful mothers in the bible but instead of giving you more examples of faith, I want to encourage us with scripture that isn’t specific to motherhood but still pours over into how we demonstrate faith to those around us, especially our children. 

John 15:5,7–Jesus is finishing up his I Am statements with I am the vine. As he moves on to explain what he means he says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing…If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” Is Jesus specifically talking about motherhood here? No. 

But he is directly talking about transforming our minds to think like Christ. Which will subsequently pour over into our role as mothers. We must abide in Christ so that our children can see who Jesus is through the fruit we bear, through our modeled faith. 

Hebrews 11:6–Is another example in scripture that isn’t necessarily talking about mothers specifically, but Christians. The writer of Hebrews tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God and that he rewards those who believe and seek him first. Essentially he is calling on the believer to model a relationship that is not fueled by works (which as mothers, we are all about doing, going and doing) but instead pleasing God specifically through our faith alone.  

The first job of being a mother is modeling our faith in God for our children. 

Teach our Children in the Ways of the Lord:

It would be okay if God didn’t give us any examples of mothers teaching the ways of the Lord to their children. You know why?

Because he commands us to do it. In Deuteronomy 6:7 the Lord is giving the 10 commandments to the Israelites and he says, “Hear O Israel. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise.”

Examples are nice, and we have them, but we don’t need them–because God is His ultimate authority commands us to do. It is the greatest and most important law. We glorify God by teaching our children diligently the ways of the Lord. He also reiterates this command in Proverbs 1:8, 22:6 and 29:15. 

Jochebed (Moses’ Mother)--not only a woman who modeled faith but a woman who without a doubt trained her children in the ways of the Lord. Scripture doesn’t directly tell us that, but based on the story line we can infer that while Moses was being nursed by his mother for at least 3 years, at max 6 years she would have taught him the ways of their people. She would have made sure he knew who the Lord was. Part of the reason we know that is because when Yahweh revealed himself to Moses at the burning bush and he asked who am I talking to (coming from a pantheon of gods in Egypt) and God said, I AM WHO I AM. He knew. He knew he was talking to The Creator. The one his mother would have told him about. 

Naomi (Ruth’s MIL)--We see in this story the power of a faithful MIL who teaches her daughter in law the ways of the lord. Even through Naomi’s bitterness and suffering, Ruth still was knowledgeable about her God and that led Ruth to follow Naomi to a foreign land. 

Hannah (Samuel’s Mother)--in 1 Samuel 1:11 we see a desperate and barren mother who fiercely prays to God for a child. She so badly wants a child that she makes a promise to God, “Lord, if you give me a baby, I will give him back to you.” Wow. Talk about faith and love for the Lord, to have a son only to give Him back to the temple as a prophet for God. But through Hannah’s story we see her prayer answered. We can undoubtedly assume that Hannah raised Sammuel in the ways of the Lord as she kept her promise and took Samuel to the temple when he was 3 years old. Could you imagine? Samuel went on to change the entire nation of Israel. 

2:4-5–Specifically talks about the role of older women. That they must train up the younger women to be good wives and mothers to their children. So again, I encourage you, mothers of adult children, grandmothers and great grandmothers–keep running your race. God still commands it of you. 

In these examples we see the great reward of each mother diligently teaching their children the ways of the Lord. Moses had a foundation of the Creator God before embarking on his time in Pharoah’s home. Ruth had enough information about God, because of Naomi’s teaching, to make a huge faith decision to join God in his work in the line of Christ–and Samuel, impacted the entire nation of Israel as a prophet because of Hannah’s knowledge of who God is and impressing that on him at a young age. 

Finally, let’s talk about the role prayer has in being a mother. 

Prayer:

Prayer, the single most powerful tool we have in our Christian faith. I often spend time thanking God for giving us the avenue of prayer to connect with Him. Could you imagine what it would be like if we couldn’t talk with God because of the power of the Holy Spirit? I would be a terrible mother, no doubt. 

Again, all throughout scripture we see the power of a praying mother. I mean, this literally could take us hours because there are so many stories of mothers praying–Sarah, Hannah, Ruth, Naomi, Bathsheba, Anna, Rebecka, Elizabeth, Mary, the list goes on. 

Rebecka–in Genesis 25:22-23 we see Rebecka inquire of God, which is just a fancy for talk with God, which is the casual word for prayer. Rebecka could feel the boys warring within her. She says, “Why is this happening to me?” and the Lord said, "There are literally two nations in your womb, they will be divided, one will be stronger and the older shall serve the younger.” Well, that's comforting after you’ve been praying for a child for a long time. Israel would be born out of her womb and because she went to God and asked him what the heck was going on, he told her, because of her prayer God gave her information that she asked for. 

Mary–In Luke we see Mary’s song of Praise, which served as a prayer of worship to the Lord. It is very similar to the song that Hannah sang in worship when she found out she would have Samuel. Mary’s example shows us that prayer isn’t necessarily always inquiring of the Lord for something we want but instead prayer serves a form of worship to our King. Mary’s song reminds us who God is and who he always will be. 

Anna–We don’t know much about Anna. There are only two verses dedicated to her in scripture. In Luke 2:36-38 when Jesus is presented at the temple, we meet Anna. She was a prophetess that lived in the temple. Scripture tells us that she worshiped, fasted and PRAYED day and night. I want you to think about the amount of women Anna could have had an impact on as a prophetess in the temple? She had probably been in that temple for 64 years. Even if she discipled one woman a year, that is 64 women. Who then probably discipled others. She was a praying spiritual mother. Which I know some of you have been called to in this life. If this is you, Anna is who you can cling to. God valued her, so much so that she knew in a moment that Jesus was the savior of the world. God values you too. 

Prayer is the greatest gift we can give our children. If we are in continual conversation with God, like we should be then we have a lot of time to pray for our children.

Rebecka prayed for answers. Mary prayed in worship. Anna prayed for others. 

Close Out: 

I’ll Love You Forever is a classic book. I hope I haven’t ruined that for you. Instead, I hope that the next time you read it you think of the Gospel. Just like us, as a mother, would do the unthinkable and unimaginable for our children–loading up a ladder to the top of our station wagon, in the middle of the night and driving to our adult child’s house to crawl in through their window and rock them in bed and sing them a song to show them our forever kind of love. Jesus did one better. He loaded up his cross, walked it up the hill of calvary, was humiliated, mocked and without hesitation put his life on the line to save us from the chains of sin. 

It is not our job, as mothers, to love our children into eternal safety. That’s Christ's job. 

Instead, God uniquely created us, women, as mothers, to model faith for our children, then teach our children diligently the ways of the Lord and pray fiercely for them. That is the purpose of motherhood. That is the forever work with a forever reward as we join God in His work of building His Kingdom. 

Now, consider what you know about God. He made us in His image. Loving His children is innate and it is a core part of his character. Which is why he could stand there and turn his back on His only son, look at us and say, it’s because I’ll love you forever, no matter the cost. 

Motherhood is a gift, it’s innate. It’s part of who we are as women, that’s why without a doubt we can stand there and look at our child and say, I’ll love you forever and stand to glorify him in the process.