Last week we celebrated Mother’s Day, the day when we show our love and appreciation to not only our mothers but also all mothers.  They who bore us and carried us around for nine months, they who raised us and took care of us, and they who’ve never stopped loving us no matter how undeserving we can be, deserve our appreciation, not only a day in a year but every day of the year.  Thank you, Mom.

In my years of ministry, rarely have I met mothers who do not love their children; almost all love their children.  So, what I have found to be the problem is not whether they love their children but rather how they love their children—the right way or the wrong way.  It’s not that they love their children too much; I am inclined to believe that in general mothers love their children much.  The problem is some do not love their children in ways that make their children grow up to be responsible and mature adults.  It’s the wrong way.

In Luke 2 we can read the story of Jesus who, at age 12, went with His parents to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.  We do not know the detail of what happened but when Mary and Joseph left the city, they left Jesus behind.  Even though they had traveled a day’s journey, the moment they realized that that their son was missing, they headed back to Jerusalem.  They looked everywhere for three days; we can only imagine how anxious they must be.  In the end they decided to look for Him in the Temple; there they found Him, “sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions” (2:46).  Naturally Mary asked Him, “Son, why have You done this to us?  Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.”  To which, Jesus replied, “Why did you seek Me?  Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”  That is the right way to love our children: To raise them up to be the men and women God wants them to be, not we want them to be.

Pastor Paul