Honor Your Mother

May 2017

Deuteronomy 5:16 says, “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may be well with you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.” It is a commandment with a promise. Whether we are young or old, honoring our mothers is a priority that God has given us. And the reward for us is a long and blessed life here on this earth.

The word “honor” may be defined as, “to respect greatly; regard highly; to esteem; to treat with deference and courtesy.” It starts with an attitude of gratitude and comports itself with kindness, tenderness, love, respect, humility, and obedience. It does take effort on our part and a consistent and persistent show of affection. It is only possible to honor our mothers if we first honor our God. The acronym for honor can stand for, “He Only Needs Our Reverence.”

The Lord Jesus is the finest example of every virtue, for He is God. When on earth, He honored His mother in every way up to and while on the cross suffering for our sins. Luke 2:51 says, “Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart.” At Cana of Galilee, Jesus honored His mother’s request to intervene when they ran out of wine at the wedding they were attending. John 19:26-27 says, “When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold you son!’ Then He said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.”

Jesus did not just teach what to do, He did it in every way. May the Lord help us to honor our mothers today and every day of our lives. What does it mean to honor our mother? It means to love her, care for her, treat her with respect, show kindness to her, be patient with her, and most of all be there for her and help her in whatever she needs. Sometimes it just takes a phone call, an email, a text, a letter, a smile, a word of encouragement and appreciation. Are we willing to make honoring our mothers a real priority?

For who she is, we love her; for what she has done for us, we appreciate her; and for her godly life, we follow her example through all our lives. Mothers have the hardest, most time consuming, and yet the most important and rewarding job the world has ever known. Let us, therefore, honor our mothers!