Mother's Day

Many preachers would tell you that Mother's Day is always a challenging sermon. While the Hallmark cards are emotional and sappy, the Bible paints motherhood as it really is--hard work and full of frailities, with Proverbs 31:10-31 expressing its crowning appreciation for all that mother's do.

So after you preach Proverbs 31, where else do you turn?

Yesterday I chose a text that speaks exclusively of the Messiah-- Isaiah 11:1-9.

There, Isaiah sees a vision of Jesus ruling in his soon to be future kingdom. In verses 1-5, Jesus rules with wisdom and righteousness. In verses 6-9, we see his kingdom is characterized by harmony, as illustrated by the wolf the lamb living peaceably together.

When we imitate our Savior and practice the wisdom of righteousness, we bear witness in the here and now to what God will establish in His future kingdom. For mothers then, the application was this: godly mothers who practice godly wisdom make their home a little heaven on earth.

To illustrate the point, I used Edward Hick's painting, "Peaceable Kingdom." In the foreground of the painting is God's future kingdom. The predator and prey live together. Across the ravine of time, in the background, is William Penn making peace with the Indians. The lesson of the painting: make peace today because God will make peace in the future. Be an example today of what God will establish tomorrow.

My Mom likes art. She gave me the inspiration to use Hick's painting. Thanks Mom.