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  Religion
The Power of a Mother I recall your sincere faith that was alive first in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and I am sure is in you. 2 Timothy 1:5 By Pastor Phillip Howle web posted May 5, 2010 RELIGION – I love being a dad. I enjoy taking my boys to parks and playgrounds (my wife also loves to have a break!). I love watching moms at the playground. Let me clarify what I mean. I enjoy, from a pastoral, observational, and sociological stand point, observing the parenting habits of maternal guardians of a child. Got me? Good. Here are some observations I have made. Some moms are right there and will not let the kids get an inch away from her. Some moms bring there whole med kit and have an ambulance on stand by if something happens. Other moms have a cell phone attached to their ear while their child is hanging trapped upside down thorough the rails of the sliding board and they are completely oblivious. Then you have moms that are more interested in their friends then their child. Then you have the moms that watch their kids closely but distant enough to give them room to grow and explore. No matter how each mom differs, every kid on the playground has one thing in common, they have a mom. I read this week about one protective mother who wrote the following letter. "Dear Sir: My son has been accepted for admission to your college and soon he will be leaving me. I am writing to ask that you give your personal attention to the selection of his roommate. I want to be sure that his roommate is not the kind of person who uses foul language, or tells off-color jokes, smokes, drinks, or chases after girls. I hope you will understand why I am appealing to you directly. You see, this is the first time my son will be away from home, except for his three years in the Marine Corps." Now, my mom’s influence on me has been tremendous. She stayed at home with me while keeping two other children. I remember being read to and prayed for, taken to swimming lessons, played with loved, cared for, it was awesome. I love my mom! We talk about 10 times a day. She does home health care and is on the road, so she calls me from the car all the time. Now, I was blessed to have a godly mom and dad. I love my dad too, but my mom and I are real tight. This used to annoy my wife Rebecca, but now that she has two sons she hopes she and her boys will be just like that! We all know the importance of a mom. When mom is gone most families are like the cartoon in the Saturday Evening Post from years back that showed a young boy about five or six years old talking on the telephone, saying, "Mom is in the hospital, the twins and Roxie and Billie and Sally and the dog and me and Dad are all home alone." How about you? For some of you if it were not for your mom you don’t know where or who you would be. Dad was a provider, but he never taught you anything spiritually or brought you to church, but your mother was faithful to do so. Some of you might have a dad who is not a believer and makes no apologies about it, but your mom was there encouraging your faith and praying for you every night. But sadly, not everyone has a great mother. For some of you, your mother was an obstacle or is still is an obstacle in your coming to faith in Jesus. Let’s talk about a guy named Timothy and the influence his mother and even his grandmother had on his faith. Timothy grew up in a crazy home town Lystra. Now, the Apostle Paul’s first trip to this town was a rough experience. Paul healed a man lame from birth. The man leaped up and began to walk and so impressed the crowd that they thought Paul and Barnabas were Roman Gods. They took Paul for Hermes, because he was the "chief speaker," and his companion Barnabas for Zeus. The crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them, but Paul and Barnabas tore their clothes and shouted that they were merely men. They used this opportunity to tell the Lystrans of the Creator God. Soon, however, through the influence of the Jewish leaders from Antioch, Pisidia and Iconium, they stoned Paul and left him for dead. All this is from Acts 14. But, on that crazy day, there was a grandmother who heard Paul preach and she believed. A Jewish grandmother named Lois. Now she had a daughter named Eunice. But Eunice, who was Jewish, had turned her back on the Jewish faith and married a Gentile man. This was a sin to Jews that tore families apart. Now, we don’t know how strained the relationship between Lois and Eunice was, but we are safe to say it hurt the family. But evidently, the forgiveness of Jesus prompted Lois to share that forgiveness with her wayward daughter who believed as well. These two were now reconciled by their common faith in Jesus. I am sure that Eunice tried to share Jesus with her husband, but we have no record that he ever believed. The absence of even his name shows that it was possible that the mother’s and grandmother’s faith in Jesus further divided their marriage. There was however, a child involved, Timothy. Growing up in a wild pagan town, with a pagan dad he could have easily followed in the footsteps of the other pagan boys. He was half Jewish and uncircumcised so the Jewish kids would not have had anything to do with him. The pagans mocked Jews, at least devout ones. Now granny and mom, believing in a crucified and resurrected Messiah, would not have won him any friends, but Timothy seems to have trusted Jesus, with his young faith nurtured buy a loving granny and mom. Timothy went on to have an amazing impact on the world all because of his mother’s influence in his life. So mothers, realize that you have been given a crucial task. John MacArthur writes “To be a mother is by no means second class. Men may have the authority in the home, but the women have the influence. The mother, more than the father, is the one who molds and shapes those little lives from day one.” Take John Wesly who I agree with when he said “I learned more about Christianity from my mother than from all the theologians in England.” Honor you God this Mother’s day by rightly honoring your mom! Pastor Phillip © Copyright 2010
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