On the role of a Mother, and we are going to take a look at five different women in the Bible, different Moms that are mentioned either by name, or just mentioned perhaps without name. Then, we are going to look at about four generic teachings on what the Bible says the role of a Mother is. There is a lot more than that, but we are just going to focus on four in particular.
You do not have to be a Mother to gain from this study today, because the application is universal as a human being. But there are some particular emphasizes made in the Scripture about the role of a Mother. It is always good when you want to study any topic in the Bible to look at role models, at examples. We have done that before, we have done studies here on the male role models and female role models in the Bible. But today, we are going to specifically look at Mothers and Motherhood. Whatever your discipline in life, your profession, you learn best usually by watching others, someone else who does the job really well. I know that is how I learned my profession, being mentored by someone, and you learn a lot through books, and knowledge, but the Scriptures fortunately give us a lot.
So if you are a Mother today, and you want to enhance your effectiveness in the home, the Bible is the place to look. And we are going to take a look ourselves, at what the Bible says we ought to do as Mothers, and how we ought to behave, and how we ought to act and conduct ourselves. So we are going to take a look initially at five women who are Moms, and they were mentioned in Scripture with certain qualities they had. I thought it were noteworthy that we should take a look at.
The first one is going to be in Matthew 15:21, and this woman is not named in particular in the Bible, obviously she had a name, but she is not mentioned by name. She is simply referred to as “a woman of Canaan.” She was a Mother as we will read briefly here in Matthew 15:21. We will read 21-28:
Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan …
So here she is, here is the woman we are going to look at first. The woman of Canaan:
… came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet …
Or “fit” would be another word for that translation.
It is not [fit] to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
There we end our reading. We know that this “woman of Canaan” had a daughter, and that she was a Mother. Therefore, there are some nice things that happened here, some qualities that she had as a Mother that I think we should point out and take note of today. The very first one is going to be the most obvious, because Jesus said it Himself in verse 28:
… O woman, great is thy faith: …
So, the first quality that I want to point out with this “woman of Canaan” is she had great faith. Why did Jesus say that to her? Do you see she was not even part of the Israelite family? She was not a daughter of Abraham by blood, and yet she initially was calling Jesus, “O Lord” in verse 22, and she knew, she felt in her heart that He could heal her daughter. So she had that faith that God had given her. She believed in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and Jesus said to her, “woman, great is thy faith,” and because of that He said, “be it unto thee even as thou wilt.”
So, the first attribute we want to point out is, this Mother had great faith, great faith which was needed, because her daughter was deathly ill. As Jesus said, because of her great faith, it was done to her daughter as she willed that it be done. And what Mother does not want to see her ailing, hurt, sick daughter healed? I mean, it is innate in all of us, a Father would too. Which one of you Mom’s out there would not give even your right hand to have your daughter healed from a deathly illness? So here this woman had great faith.
What else did you see in that passage? Any other attributes you can pick out when we read that brief paragraph? Sal? Very persistent, yes she was very persistent. Remember the Disciples said:
… Send her away; for she crieth after us.
And “then came she and worshipped him” because she initially said:
… O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed …
And after the Disciples said, “Send her away” she is bothering us, “she crieth after us.” Because they knew she was a Canaanitish woman, and they were just thinking that she was just being a nuisance, but she continued to persist.
Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
She would not give up. Again, let us say your daughter is on a hospital bed, you would go grab a doctor and say, “Come help, come help.” Just picture how you would be persistent in doing whatever it took for your ailing daughter to be healed.
Another attribute I see in verse 27, when she said “Truth, Lord,” after He had said something that seemingly is demeaning, but it was not, Jesus said, “It is not [fit] to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.” What was He saying? She understood what He was saying, and it was obvious and clear to her, even though He said it a little bit cryptically, “It is not [fit] to take the children’s bread,” Which means the children are the children of Abraham, the Jewish people. “It is not [fit],” it is not right to take their bread “and to cast it to dogs,” insinuating that she, the “woman of Canaan” was a dog. And, that was not a compliment back in that day, neither is it still today when you call someone a dog, you mean something derogatory.
Well here, Jesus actually said that to her, “It is not [fit],” you are a dog, you are outside the camp. That was of course a great spiritual lesson here, or meaning. She understood what she was being called, but she exercised incredible humility when she said, “Truth, Lord.” She did not say, “how can you be calling me a dog?,” then shake your head and then just leave. No, she did not take offense at that. She recognized that she was a dog in His sight, meaning that she was humble, she knew she was a sinner she did not deserve any of the bread, but she said, you know what Lord, “the dogs” like me, in other words, “eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” All I need is a few crumbs, because I have such great faith in You, that You can heal my daughter, just give me a few crumbs and she will be fine. And that is when Jesus marveled, “great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.”
And the last thing I want to look at with this “woman of Canaan” as a Mother, is that she interceded for her daughter. And that was in verse 22, where we started out:
… O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
She saw that her daughter was vexed with a devil. And spiritually, picture today if you are a Mom, and you have unsaved children, or you suspect perhaps, some, or all, or one of your children are not a child of God, this woman gives us a great example of interceding for that child in prayer. I mean, Jesus was alive that day in Canaan, walking through Tyre, He departed Tyre and Sidon, and this “woman of Canaan” came to Him. But Jesus Christ is alive today, as you know in Heaven, He can hear the same prayer request that He heard two thousand years ago, and do the same thing.
But spiritually, the most important thing that any daughter or son needs from you Moms, is intercession in prayer. So I want to ask you Moms today, are you praying for your children? And I am going to ask you, are you praying daily for your children? It is a great take away from this lesson with this “woman of Canaan.” There should not be a day that goes by that you don’t pray for your children, because God has put those children under your care and keeping. Is there ever a day that you do not feed them physical food? Probably not, probably not, so should there ever be a day that you do not pray for your child? There should not be so, do not ever let a day go by without praying for each and every one of your children, by name specifically.
I said we were going to look at five Moms before we look at some generic principles of the role of a Mother. The second one is another woman that is not mentioned by name, and that is going to be found in 2 John. Turn to 2 John if you would. This woman is simply referred to as “the elect lady.” That is a great title to have I will tell you that, I will take it, “the elect lady.” We will read from verses 1-6 of 2 John:
The elder unto the elect lady and her children, …
So we know that this “elect lady” had children, she is a Mom:
… whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth; For the truth’s sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever. Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father. And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.
Let me ask you the first question. Why do I bring this “elect lady” out as an example of the role of a Mother? What did she do that was so good? It is not that easy to pickup unless you take a look real carefully at verse 4. What did John rejoice in? He did not rejoice necessarily in the woman specifically, but he rejoiced in the example, it is a result of something she did. And he said here:
I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, …
Do you think those children just happened to start “walking in truth,” and being obedient, and saying, yes Mother, yes Father, what can I do to help around the house, and being respectful to their elders and cheerfully doing their chores? No, that takes training, we all know that that does not happen naturally. Naturally, a child says no, that comes naturally, rebellion comes naturally, pride, selfishness is very natural in children, in all of us as human beings. But John rejoiced greatly that he found her “children walking in truth,” which insinuates that she must have trained them well, must have. So she was training her children in the truth. And He said here in verse 6:
And this is love, that we walk after his commandments.
So she obviously was teaching her children the commandments of God, and that is the whole Bible. So Mother, are you reading and teaching your children the commandments of God? What happens when you do that? Well, when you do that, you have great results. The children hopefully, will fear God, and pursue God, and “Strive to enter in at the strait gate,” and “labour therefore to enter into that rest,” and hopefully God will save them. The Bible says in Proverbs 19, it gives us good encouragement as Mothers in training our children in the commandments of God, and being strict with them, and being persistent in that training. In Proverbs 19:18, the Bible says, and this is just one of many:
Chasten thy son …
That word can be interchanged for a “child” so it could be a daughter as well:
Chasten thy [child] while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.
Don’t we often sometimes, at least today, you see it a lot, it is very prevalent where parents are very hesitant to be tough with their children. They kind of get uneasy when a child cries they want to just go and ameliorate the sadness and placate it, but the Bible says:
Chasten thy son while there is hope, …
So, in other words, you have to do it early, and you have to do it a lot. And by chastening your child, you are being strict with them, and you teach them the commandments of God, guess what is going to happen? They are going to start “walking in the truth” and that is going to be a blessing to you and your family. It is going to be a very joyful, cheerful house to be in, because your children are going to “fear God” as they see you training and teaching day after day after day, not letting up on the commandments of God, and being tough, and being loving. But being loving is also being tough, and vice verse because we are to “walk after his commandments” that is what love is. So there is a great example, “the elect lady” in 2 John, a great Mother. She had to be, what wonderful training she gave her children and what a result it was.
A third one, and this woman is very well known as a Mother in the New Testament. That would be Mary, the Mother of Jesus Himself. Let us go to Luke 1 and pick out some examples and attributes here of Mary that she exemplified as a Mother that we can learn from. We will start in Luke 1:30, and we will just read a couple of verses to recognize why I am pointing this particular feature out. In verses 30-33:
And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Let me stop there. What is being spoken here? Mary is being given this information from “the angel.” And look at verse 32, this child she is going to have is going to “be great,” “called the Son of the Highest,” He is going to have “the throne of his father David.” Verse 33:
And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
If someone came up to you and said, “How many of you Moms have a child that is in any kind of athletic sport, or perhaps does an extracurricular activity, like plays a musical instrument?” Are you not proud when you see your child perform wonderfully, and someone says, “your child is going to be the best piano player that ever, ever lived on the earth.” You would be like Wow, Oh boy aren’t I special, or you might feel a little sense of pride and feel good. How many of you parents do not feel good when your child excels in whatever they are doing, whether it is school, maybe they get straight A’s, or again it might be on the basketball court, or on the softball field, or again it could be in a recital with music and your child does the best, and you feel great, you feel great. Well, the temptation is always pride as parents.
Why is there such anger on the sidelines in sporting events with children today? Because parents are living vicariously through the child, and then if the child seemingly gets unfairly treated by an umpire or a coach, the parent gets angry at that individual, that adult, because that hurts my child, that hurts me because my pride is hurt. Maybe my child is not the best, maybe someone else’s opinion about my child is different than mine. I think my child is the best shooter on the basketball team, but the coach only thinks she or he is the third best, so they sit on the bench. That is OK. Did Mary let that bubble up in pride with all this unbelievable talk of what her child was going to be? No. Verses 46-48:
And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my …
Look at that personal pronoun “my”:
… Saviour.
She needed a Saviour, “my Saviour.” Verse 48:
For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: …
She is recognizing that she is in “the low estate,” she is nobody, she is of no significance in her community:
… for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
And there certainly is a group of people today that take that to the extreme, and falsely take what the Bible is teaching here and say, the “Blessed Virgin Mary” and elevate her so high, even higher than Jesus Himself in many regards, and in many instances, sadly. But that is not what she meant. What did she mean? First of all she began with a very humble attitude:
… the low estate of his handmaiden: …
Herself, God regarded, I did not deserve it in other words. See the flavor of that language in verse 48? I do not deserve to be carrying this child, and when she said, “from henceforth,” from this point forward;
… all generations shall call me blessed.
What did she mean? Well thankfully we can use the Bible as its own dictionary, and the word “blessed” means, let us go to Psalm 32, and define it. Do not take my word for it. Psalm 32:1, it does not mean to be put up on a pedestal, it does not mean to have statutes made of you, it does not mean to be prayed to. Being blessed means, Psalm 32:1:
Blessed…
There is the word.
… is he …
Or she:
… whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
That is what it means to be “blessed.” So again she is saying, “look I have sinned, I have transgression, and it is going to be covered by this incredible child that is going to be born of me, that God is amazingly, graciously, giving me the honor and privilege of carrying, and that would be the Son of the Highest, Jesus Christ Himself, the Saviour of the world.” So to be “blessed” means your sins are covered and that is what she said, from this point forward:
… all generations shall call me blessed.
So, what was she saying plain and clear? I am a sinner. How could it be that my sins are going to be covered, this is amazing, this is wonderful. That is why she rejoiced. And it said in verse 47,
… My soul doth magnify the Lord,
So, Mary was a Mom, even though her child was obviously God Himself, the Greatest, the One and Only, God of God, God Himself in the flesh, and Mary was humble and meek. So, no matter what your child does, or accomplishes, remain meek and humble, it is not because of you, it is not because of your bloodline, or your good looks, or any of that. What is it? It is God’s grace, and just recognize it if your child is obedient, God fearing, or successful in the physical realm of this world, in anything be grateful to the Lord, He is the One who has done it, it is not you. Just be humble, remember Mary.
All right the last two, we are going to study number four and five of these Mothers who we are going to take a look at, and they are all in the same passage because one was a Grandmother, and obviously a Mother too, and the other one was just a Mother. And I am talking about, does anyone want to take a guess? Lois and Eunice. 2 Timothy 1. Let us go to 2 Timothy 1:1. What was good that Lois and Eunice had done, had give an example that we can learn as Mothers today? In verses 1-4 of 2 Timothy 1, we read:
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus, To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day; Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy;
Here is why he is “filled with joy,” verse 5:
When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.
Well, what was so good about Eunice and Lois, the Grandmother and Mother of Timothy? What was good, what was pointed out here in Scripture in verse 5? Sal? And what was that faith that they passed on to each generation? Because obviously, Lois had passed it on or maybe they kind of got it together, but either way, it was passed down, and then both of them, Grandmother and Mother, passed it on to Timothy, was “unfeigned faith.” What does that fancy word “unfeigned” mean? Does anyone want to give me a synonym for unfeigned? Genuine, yes you are right, Mary, unpretended is another synonym too. It is genuine faith, it is real, it is unprentended, it is absolute real faith. So it was not just a fake, it was not just a show, it was not just putting on a fancy dress on a Sunday and hat and going to a church. It was real faith, lived day after day after day, and they passed it on to Timothy, because Paul said, “I am persuaded that in thee also.”
So, what is the encouragement here Moms? If you have real genuine faith, pass it on to your child through your example, day to day, how you conduct your life, what you say, what comes out of your mouth. Again, back to training your children. And there is a good chance Paul says here, “I am persuaded that in thee also,” and it is in you Timothy, from what I see, it looks like it is in you too. You know what they say, the apple does not fall far from the tree. What does that mean? Often times it is used in reference in a negative way when someone does something but it can also be a positive. If you are a wonderful example before your children, chances are, chances are they are going to pick up on the same thing and be the same way. Usually that is the way it works.
So, Moms a great example here, pass it on to your children. But you need to have the genuine faith yourself, so pursue that, “Strive to enter in at the strait gate,” “labour therefore to enter into that rest.” Pray that God would have mercy on your soul and give you that genuine, unfeigned, unpretended faith that is real, that would then be evidenced to your children, and if you do have it, rejoice, and continue to pass it on to them.
So, those are five Mothers in the Bible, and I would challenge you, if you are struggling for a topic to study with your family this afternoon, pickup where I left off here, and look for other Moms in the Bible. There are many others, I just picked five, look for other Moms in the Bible and ask your children to go read a passage about it and come back and report around the living room sofa, as you debrief them from what they studied, and what was so good, what was exemplary about this Mom in the Bible. And what can a Mother, as a Mom what can we do to emulate that and to be more effective in our role as a Mother?
So before we close, we are going to look at four brief, generic teachings in the Scripture about just what a Mom should do and how she should behave. They are all going to be found in one particular chapter, and that is Titus 2. So let us go there, and there is a lot more than four, but I am just going to pick four today that we can spend a little time to study. I will read Titus 2:1:
But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:
So, the beginning of this chapter is stating that there are certain things that are going to be listed here that are sound in doctrine, they are good, in other words, you want to learn these. So let us perk up and hearken to what God says. Verse 2 talks about “the aged men,” but we are focusing on Moms here. Let us jump down to verses 3-5:
The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
So there is a list there, and you could spend all afternoon and evening, and tonight in your private time, or your family time, studying these as well. But let us take a look at four of them.
The first thing that verse 4 says, “That they may teach” or train “the young women to be.” And the first one I am going to look at is in verse 4:
… to love their husbands, …
Lovers of their husbands. So Mom, Mother, if you are a Mother chances are you have a husband, if your husband is still alive today, and the Bible says to be lovers of your husbands. Now this word “love” here, “lover, is the same root word as the phileo love in the Greek, and that is the word “Philadelphia,” our city near by here. That is where we get the phileo. And what is that kind of love? Does anyone know a synonym for that type of love in the Greek? Brotherly love, that is why the city of Philadelphia is called the City of Brotherly Love. There is a Love Park which has that big fountain in the middle of town. Have you ever been there? There is a big sign, LOVE in red that is right outside the steps there, and that is what the city is known for. That is the picture that is on a lot of the travel literature, and vacation literature, to get people to come to Philadelphia. Love, but it is the brotherly or friendship love. That is odd, it is talking here about a word “love” that has to do with friends, brotherly love, but to your husband. You know, there are other Greek words for love, aros, and agape, we have looked at agape before in 1 Corinthians 13. But what does this mean? Why is this saying here to train the young women to be lovers of their husbands? But is it phileo love?
Here is one thing that you can take away from that love that I think as Moms we want to learn today. In Matthew 11, it uses the same word. So let us go there and understand how I can apply that type of love to my husband today, or this whole week. I am going to challenge all you Moms to do that with your husbands this week. Matthew 11:19, it reads:
The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend …
And there is our word that we are going to look at.
… a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.
What is being spoken here? What is being said? Jesus Christ is being called, He said it Himself, He declared it:
The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, …
Other people are saying about me.
Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.
What is that word “friend”? He is saying, “a friend of,” and we are picking up the same line of reasoning from Titus 2, “publicans and sinners.”
So in other words, women, Moms, is your husband a sinner? Sure, we all are, “a friend of publicans and sinners.” Did Jesus avoid those kinds of people? No, He gravitated to them, right? He said, “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” Mom, wife, love your husband in this way, this week, always, but focus on it this week, he is a sinner, and so are you, but love him anyway. And do not get discouraged, do not get hurt, because of some failing or shortcoming that you see in your husband, but be a lover of your husband in this friendship way, in other words, loving no matter what as a friend.
A friend, the Bible says, “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother,” and that is Jesus Christ of course. So in other words, doesn’t a friend usually stick by you through thick and thin? But somehow, and for some reason as spouses, we throw in the towel, or we get angry. But a friend will listen to anything, and will support you no matter what you do, even when you are tossed in jail, a friend will come and visit you and love you typically. That is what the Bible is focusing on here, Moms. Love your husbands that way, even when they are sinners, love them.
Let us go to a second generic teaching about the role of a Mother. Titus 2:5 said:
To be discreet, …
What does the word “discreet” mean? Does anyone want to give me a synonym or a simple definition of discreet or discretion? We kind of feel or know what it means, but can you put it into words? That is the challenge. Anyone want to try? Robin? You are on the right track, quiet, self-controlled is another one that kind of fits there. To be discreet is to be self-controlled, and a lot of times it does mean quiet. When my mouth wants to go, and my tongue wants to say, “hey here’s what I think.” A lot of times it is better just to refrain from speaking. But it also means to be sensible and sound minded. Well, showing discernment, or good judgment in conduct, or speeches, is another definition of the word “discreet.”
That is a good one, showing discernment or good judgment in conduct and speech. That is not easy to do, a lot of times we call that maturity, and it comes through experience, but the Bible says, “teach the young women,” teach the Moms “to be discreet.” Why? What is so important about discretion? I want you to go home and study the word “discretion,” read it in the dictionary again. Reiterate these synonyms of being sensible and self-controlled. Why is it so valuable for a Mom to be discreet? Sal? Yes, if you are rash in your judgment, and you just speak off the cuff through emotion, what happens? You do things that you are going to regret later. And who is watching you? Mom. That is why it is in the context here of Moms, the little ones, the little ones are watching and learning. So it is so important “to be discreet” as a Mom, to be under control with your tongue, with your conduct, sensible and sound minded especially, even with your husband. We saw to be a lover of your husband, being a friend, that friendship love, even when he is a sinner, because the children get upset when they see Mom and Dad fighting, as well as when you do things even in front of the children, no matter what it is, children will remember that, and it is a bad example. So it is important “to be discreet.”
Let us look at the third teaching here on the role of a Mom. In verse 5 it also says to be:
To be … keepers at home, …
Literally, that phrase in the Greek means, home workers, not that you are doing homework from school, but working in the home. What does that mean? It is caring for household affairs, and there are a lot of them are there not? Now here is the thing you might think, well but I work outside the home. A lot of Moms work outside the home today. But guess what? Does that mean that the work in the home, the household chores they need to get done, they do not just sit there, someone has to get them done, unless you have paid help. I do not know if anyone here has that, if you do thank God for it. But if you do not, someone has to do it. So, if you have a job outside the home, you are doing that job, plus you are doing the job at home. If you are at home it is a huge job, do not ever disparage that job. When I ask, “so what do you do?” I have heard women say, “well I just stay at home, with the children,” and I always say, “don’t come back to a woman who says that.” Do not ever use the word, “just,” that is disparaging your job, it is an awesome privilege to be at home and it is incredibly hard to do.
Well, the Bible says here, to be “keepers at home,” it is a blessing, because a home that is well kept, there is a certain calm, there is soothing, there is a relaxation. A family needs that, and needs to see the industry when a child watches their Mom industriously doing the laundry, doing the cooking, the cleaning and all the other stuff, carting the kids here and there, and back and forth to this, that and the other event, and loving the children with all the different activities they are involved in. It is huge, it is so valuable, that I will even say in many, many ways it is more valuable then the husband’s role, which typically is the income earner, it is easier to do that, to go to the office for eight hours a day is typically easier than the home work and the chores at the house.
Last one, in verse 4 it said, not only to love your husbands but:
… teach the young women …
The Mothers:
… to love their children,
It is that same phileo love, it is the same word in loving your husband, loving your children the same way. So what are we back to? Jesus Christ, “a friend of publicans and sinners.” Are the children going to be perfectly behaved everyday? Of course not. So the hardest time to love them is when they are being rebellious, they are gainsaying, they are being disrespectful, but the Bible says, love them through that. Remember “the elect lady” of 2 John, she trained her children well because “thy children walking in truth.” And God encourages us here through this example and through this command really to not only love your husband, but to love your children as well. We all think that we naturally do it, but the Bible is emphasizing here, when they are sinful you need to love them even more, and show that love through multitude of ways, you can do that.
So, May God give each and every one of us all, and all of you Moms out there and Mothers listening, that He would give you the discernment, the discretion, the blessing of emulating some of these other women who have gone before us to effectively conduct myself in the role I have as a Mother. What a precious privilege it is to be a Mother of children that God has put in your care and keeping. May He bless each and everyone of you with His grace this day. Amen.