Monday, May 9, 2016

Happy Mother's Day: What the Bible Says About Mothers and Parents - By Triniti

  Hi, this is Triniti.
  I will be posting for Anna this week, she'll take my turn after Serena, and then the schedule will return to normal.


  I thought that since it's the week following Mother's Day, I should do a post of Scripture about moms and children. I always love Mother's Day because it gives everyone a special day just to celebrate the fact that their mother is a special person, and that we wouldn't be here without them. So, before I begin, here's to all the moms making sure that us kids are doing the right things in life. Thank you for giving me a chance to learn from the scriptures that I'm going to share with everyone, and for helping me find such good friends like Anna, Jessica, and Serena. I will highlight all the verses from the Bible that I use.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth
Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!
(Psalm 127:4-5 ESV)

  What a blessing it is to be a mother or father! They literally are the ones who rule the world. They send out their arrows to fight for the LORD. All grown-ups had people to raise and care for them, and the way that it was done will change their lives and, quite possibly, the world. Every world leader, every politician, everyone who had ever had a standing point in civilization, has had parents to guide and train them. The role of mothers and fathers in the world is so large, it's almost unbelievable!

Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mothers teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck.

(Proverbs 1:8-9 ESV)

  Mothers and fathers also possess the knowledge that you require for now and later in life. If you obey your father and your mother (who have been alive upwards of forty something years than you, so obviously they have more life experience) you will most likely have a lot more wisdom and understanding than someone who doesn't. For instance, I was listening to and participating in a small study on Ephesians 6:1-3, "Children, obey your parents in the LORD, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (this is the first commandment with a promise) that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land." When a small group of children (me included) was asked to give an example of "live long in the land" a seven year old and her sister stated, "Like my mommy tells us not to go in the street so we don't get run over!"

  That was a very good example of how obeying and honoring your father and mother is beneficial to your life and health. Listening to your parents teaching and instruction can help you get through life well, and also help you to make better decisions. Your parents aren't the final decision makers when it comes to your salvation, God is, but listening to their instruction that had learning from lots of life experience will help you to make the right decisions, whether that's deciding to follow Jesus, or some minuscule thing like, "Look both ways before you cross the street."

   Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house.  Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. And we were alone. There was no one else with us in the house; only we two were in the house.  And this woman's son died in the night, because she lay on him.  And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me, while your servant slept, and laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast.  When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, he was dead. But when I looked at him closely in the morning, behold, he was not the child that I had borne.”  But the other woman said, “No, the living child is mine, and the dead child is yours.” The first said, “No, the dead child is yours, and the living child is mine.” Thus they spoke before the king.


 Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead’; and the other says, ‘No; but your son is dead, and my son is the living one.’”  And the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought before the king.  And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.”  Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.”  Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.”  And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.

(1 Kings 3:16-28 ESV)

  Clearly this section of Scripture shows a mother's love for her newborn child. Would she show even less to an older one? The real mother was willing to give the baby to the other lady, just so that it could have a chance to live. The lady who accidentally killed her child would have been glad for the first one's baby to have died, just because her's did. But the actual mother, the one who I'm sure would have given anything just to have that baby back; for the sake of his life, she was willing to give him up to another woman, a lying one at that, and leave sorrowful, but at peace knowing that her baby, her only son, was not cut in half laying in her arms. 


  A mother loves her child. Not because it's perfect, nobody is, but because it is hers, for her to raise and to cherish and to give her wisdom and things that she has learned over the years. You don't have to be a perfect mom, or even a perfect person, to raise a child with love and respect. Clearly these two ladies were not perfect, but the one loved her son enough to give him away for the sake of his own life. 

  That's how I feel mothers should be. That's how I feel most are. They love their children enough to give up anything for their child, including the child, if that would be the best thing for them. Does that mean that if a child doesn't have perfect circumstances at it's house that CPS has to come and the mother has to say, "Well Jane, it really is for the best that you go live with some stranger that we've never heard of while I try and pay off this speeding ticket that I got trying to take you to your friend's house for a play-date." That would be terrible. The better thing for Jane would be to stay with her mother. But sometimes, if the child is going to be cut in half for example, it's better to give him/her up. Everyone is in the LORD's hands. 

  Mothers are here to help and guide us on our path. They love us enough to actually show us the way we need to go, and they are ready to launch us like arrows and javelins into the world to fight for God's kingdom and His glory. No, I'm not a theologian, but I believe that anyone is capable of interpreting Scripture, whether they have studied books on pastoring (I think that's a word, and if not, it is now) and theology for many years, or they have just learned to read.



Happy Mother's Day!!!!
Triniti


P.S. I really love this song by the Gettys. I feel like it sums up what I've just said:

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