Text: Mark 12:41-44 | Listen to Message
Hope For Moms (And Others)
Motherhood involves a lot of little, routine, monotonous tasks and moments that happen over and over and over again: cooking, cleaning, changing diapers, doing laundry, reading stories, playing games, wiping away tears, transporting, … repeat.
Often these little things seem insignificant, trivial, and even pointless. As soon as you’ve done them once, you’re starting them all over again. And for what? What difference are you really making anyway?
And here’s the danger: when moms feel that what they’re doing is insignificant, it’s natural for them to conclude that they’re insignificant.
So here are 3 words of hope and encouragement for moms (and others):
1. Look to your ultimate identity.
If you look to your role or your task list as your source of significance and self-worth, you’ll feel proud when you succeed and ashamed when you fail. You’ll feel envious one moment and condescending the next. So you need to hear God saying to you that your identity is not found in your performance. You are a child of God, fashioned in His image. Furthermore, you’ve been redeemed at the cost of Christ’s blood. You matter because you matter to God – and not because of what you do, but because of what He’s done for you.
2. Look to your ultimate goal.
You want kids who are well-dressed, well-mannered, well-educated, and well-spoken – which are all reasonable goals. But deep down, you want something far greater than good, respectable, moralistic kids whose hearts are far from God. You want kids who love and treasure Jesus! And the good news is you can pursue that goal when you and your kids are at your best or at your worst. Every moment is a teachable moment if seeing and savoring Jesus is your ultimate goal!
3. Look to your ultimate strength.
God commands you to love, teach, train, provide for, and discipline your children. But it’s not up to you to do these things perfectly – and it’s certainly not up to you to produce the results. What God requires of you He actually promises to work in you and through you! His grace is your ultimate strength and His Spirit is your ally.
So be diligent and faithful in the 1,000 little things you do for your family. But always know that your hope and strength are found in God’s faithfulness to you!