“Village life ceased, it ceased in Israel, until I, Deborah, arose, arose a mother in Israel.” (Judges 5:7)
We live in a culture that does not value motherhood, and it doesn’t believe in a biblical view of male/female role relationships. And I would invite you to subvert that in the way you celebrate Mother’s Day in an explicitly Christian way.
Sinclair Ferguson wrote on Mother’s Day, and this is what he says in a couple of paragraphs:
‘Although it goes largely unrecognized, the celebration of Mother’s Day depends on a number of important biblical convictions. For one thing, it implies that motherhood is a high calling and worthy of special honour, far from the view that it is a major obstacle to women’s progress in what really matters in life. It is also a constant reminder to us that God made man, male and female, in His image, and that the complementary differences run deeply into the fabric of our being. It also stresses the privileges of rearing children, because it anticipates, and actually seems to assume their love, devotion, and expression of appreciation for their mothers.
‘Much of this we owe to the Christian gospel. It should not surprise us, therefore, that when a society has been transformed by the gospel but then rejects it, respect and honour of mothers will begin to disappear, and the prospect of being a mother, rearing children for time and eternity, will be seen as a burden and an obstacle to personal satisfaction.’
And that’s our culture, isn’t it? So let’s be subversive this Mother’s Day, and rise up and call our mothers blessed – all of them, including our spiritual mothers, who may not have had children themselves, but who have been a spiritual mother and guide to many.
– Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III (adapted)