God meant for you to have a great mum. If you don’t, it hurts, because it goes against God’s design.
1Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord,a for this is the right thing to do. 2“Honor your father and mother.” This is the first commandment with a promise: 3If you honor your father and mother, “things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth.”b
(Ephesians 6:1-3)
12“Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
(Exodus 20:12)
Paul was writing to the church in Ephesus. If you read earlier chapters, he’s bringing these Christians on a journey about how to live well by the power of the Holy Spirit. He then moves on to calling husbands and wives to love each other. Then he discusses parent-child relationships.
Let’s get the basis of our lives right before trying to address the big things. Let’s make sure that parents and children are living right with one another in the Lord.
Unfortunately, family breakdown is at an all-time heigh, but if we follow God’s design, we will flourish and have the best family relationships.
Honouring our parents is one of the Ten Commandments. We ought to honour our parents, and in particular, today, our mothers.
Some questions to ask yourself to see whether you are the sort of son/daughter God is calling you to be:
Are you the type of child that you hope your children are?
Are you the type of son/daughter that you hope that you are raising?
Do you act towards your parents the way that you hope one day your children will act towards you?
How do we honour our mothers?
Love her unconditionally.
Love her even when she’s tired
Love her when she has an ‘off' day.
Love her when she’s not at her best.
Love her when she has less to offer.
Love her all the time and remember her gratefully.
Ask her to pray for you.
If you’re going shopping, invite your mum on the shopping trip.
Invite your mum to places with you and your children.
Remember your mum, remember that she gave her best years to you and she did it gladly.
Help her cheerfully.
Help her before she even has to ask, and don’t act as though you’re doing her a massive favour.
Hug her affectionately.
Understand her sympathetically.
Listen to her attentively
Remember that mothers go through so many seasons of change, physically and emotionally, through their lives.
Give her some attention.
Never stop asking questions and listen to your mum attentively.
Remind your mum how much she is needed.
Ask her for her opinions on things that are going on in your life.
Ask her for her special recipes.
Ask her for tips on raising children.
Tell her she is valuable.
Remember, a Christian mother wants to see her children flourish in the Lord. The best way you can honour her is to show her your relationship with Jesus.
If your mother isn’t Christian, be praying for her conversion and share your faith with her.
We’re praying for you and hope you have a great time honouring your mums this week.