Scripture:
Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises loving-kindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 9:23-24)
A mother’s sacrifice:
On August 16, 1987, Northwest Airlines flight 225 crashed just after taking off from the Detroit airport, killing 155 people. One survived: a four-year-old from Tempe, Arizona, named Cecelia. When rescuers found Cecelia they did not believe she had been on the plane. Investigators first assumed Cecelia had been a passenger in one of the cars on the highway onto which the airliner crashed. But when the passenger register for the flight was checked, there was Cecelia’s name. Cecelia survived because, even as the plane was falling, Cecelia’s mother, Paula Cichan, unbuckled her own seat belt, got down on her knees in front of her daughter, wrapped her arms and body around Cecelia, and then would not let her go.
Nothing could separate that child from her mother’s love-- neither tragedy nor disaster, neither the fall nor the flames that followed, neither height nor depth, neither life nor death.
1) The power behind a mother’s love:
A mother’s love for her children is one of the strongest forces in this world. It is strong because it is chiselled directly from the heart of God.
What makes God’s love so powerful, and what makes a mother’s love so powerful, is the special bond. A mother bonds with her child through countless hours, countless feedings. This is her baby, her child. God’s love is so powerful because of His relationship to those He loves. God had a special relationship with His people, the Jews. It was a Covenant Relationship. Through Jesus Christ, we have a New Covenant Relationship with God. We are born again and become children of God. We enter into a new and special relationship with God. Just as a mother has a special love for her own children, so does God have a special love with His children. The power of love is because of the relationship.
When Pharaoh tried to kill the Jewish babies. The Jewish mom’s were so tough they were having the babies one day and out working in the field the next, their babies hidden away. One mom was bold enough to make a basket of reeds, waterproof it, and then put her baby Moses in it to float downstream. Mothers do amazing things because of their love for their children.
Jeremiah 9:23-24 gives us insight into what makes a mother’s love so powerful. These verses reveal what makes the heart of God happy. God uses a mother’s love to accomplish the things He delights in.
2) What to boast about:
You may be smart, you may have wealth, but God says that doesn’t matter. If you are going to boast in anything, boast in knowing and understanding God. That requires growing relationship with Him. That requires an intimacy with God.
3) Relationship with God:
Our world has become so infected with sin that homes and families are fractured and tormented. Not everyone has a wonderful mother who loved them and nurtured them. Our mothers may be flawed in several ways, but there is always something you can boast in about your mother. It may be her cooking, her crafts, her protection, her prayers. Dig deep and find something to boast in about your mother. Boast about her to your children, and even your grandchildren. Honor her. She gave you life.
We honor God because He gave us life. If we are to boast, boast in God, in that you know Him and understand Him.
4) God of accomplishment:
God is very focused. He is committed to working and accomplishing things. But God is rather picky about who he works with, who He accomplishes for. He only works out things on behalf of those He has a relationship with.
Mothers are amazing. At the end of a busy day, most mothers don’t feel too super, but you are. You accomplish so much. Your influence is incalculable.
Mothers know and understand that God is super too. There is one major difference. Most mothers will admit that they don’t see themselves as super. There were trials and failures. But God does not try and fail. He does not experiment. He is the God of Accomplishment. He is a God who is intimately and actively involved in your lives, and he will accomplish what He sets out to do. Mothers are the hand of God, being used by Him to accomplish the things He delights in.
5) God delights in justice:
God established the heavenly norm and pattern on earth. He has a Kingdom in His heart, a kingdom of justice, of order, a kingdom that is at work in heaven and His desire is for it to be so on earth.
When His Son came to earth, He did what was necessary to empower this justice on earth. One day He will claim this inheritance and establish God’s justice on earth. God can establish His justice in our lives. His Son can reign in our hearts and everywhere our foot treads. We need more mothers who carry God’s justice in their heart, and carry their children in prayer before our God who delights in justice.
6) Proper behaviour:
Mothers have an instinctive idea of the way God want’s His world to be ordered. They have an amazing opportunity to impress their children with our Creator’s justice. The way He wants to order our behaviour in this world. When you go before Holy God in prayer for your children and grandchildren, you ask God to work His order and His justice in their lives.
The major cause of crime is a lack of proper moral training among young people during the morally formative years. Mothers must teach God’s justice to them while they are young. Proper behaviour is not a by-product of our environment but the result of conscious choices.
7) Robe of righteousness:
Mothers can stand in the gap for their children to cloth them in robe of righteousness. Only those who are in right relationship with God will enjoy God’s righteousness. There must be a relationship with Him, and that relationship means your life has changed, you wear a Robe of Salvation. God has dealt justly with your sin through the cross of Christ, You are now clothed with His justice. New garments. New relationship. Born again.
8) God delights in righteousness:
God’s justice becomes ingrained in our character. Justice begins in the internal and transforms the external. The justice of God in our heart becomes righteousness that transforms our lives and our environment. It is inner righteousness that prevails and causes us to outwardly triumph.
Mothers, more than ever, our children need a right relationship with God. They need the righteousness that comes from Jesus Christ, from giving their lives to Him. This world is getting sicker and sicker, and our children are under attack. Mothers also know that God requires boundaries for our lives. They instinctively teach their children the Law of God. While every mother loves their child, there are expectations, boundaries that mothers expect their children to abide by.
9) Enduring love:
A child may rebel and shut them off from a mother’s love. Just as we rebel and shut ourselves from God’s love. But mothers let their children know that no matter how rebellious they are, love will always be behind. Mothers will always be there to open the gate once the prodigal child comes home. Christ will always be there with arms outstretched. Our children need to know that they are never shut out from God’s righteousness and love. Jesus Christ is the one who opens the gate to our lives and allows us free access to our Holy God.
Mothers, you can teach your children that no matter how dark the road gets, there is a righteousness that is available to them in Jesus Christ. It is a righteousness that will deliver them from sin.
God delights in loving kindness, mercy, steadfast love. The active force of God whereby he actively seeks to come to the aid of those whom He has established a relationship. He displays His strength in showing mercy and loving kindness in a steadfast way. His love and mercy never fail. It is a mother’s steadfast love for her children that best accomplishes God’s loving-kindness on earth.
10) A unique kind of love:
A mother’s love can heal a child miraculously when there is no hope medically. A mother’s love sometimes is the only thing that opens a child’s heart so they can see themselves as a young person deserving self-respect. A mother’s love “fixes” stuff that no one else can fix.
Mothers, you are touching your children with the very heart of God. Your love for your children has been chiselled from His very own heart.
Write Your Mother:
President Abraham Lincoln once summoned an Army surgeon to the White House. The major assumed that he was to be commended for some exceptional work. During the conversation Mr. Lincoln asked the major about his widowed mother. “She is doing fine,” he responded.
“How do you know?” asked Lincoln. “You haven’t written her, but she has written me.” Lincoln continued, “She thinks that you are dead, and she is asking that a special effort be made to return your body.”
At that, the Commander-in-Chief placed a pen in the young doctor’s hand and ordered him to write a letter letting his mother know that he was alive and well.
Dear mothers, forgive us because we often take you for granted and forget your love and sacrifices for us. Wishing you all a very Happy Mothers’ Day.
