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"The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him" (Proverbs 31:1). "Honor your father and your mother" (Exodus 20:12). "Her children arise and call her blessed" (Proverbs 31:28).

Mother's Day will be celebrated here in the United States on Sunday. This is a day which acknowledges the sacrificial contributions mothers make in the lives of their children. The theme of honoring our mothers will also resonate in the pulpits on Sunday as many ministers preach on the topic of the family, highlighting the theme of honoring mothers. However, wherever you live, today's message is pertinent. I hope each mother reading this will be honored by the expression of the daily verses as her children rise up and call her "blessed."

My mom was gloriously promoted to heaven in November 2005 and Brooksyne's in October 2002, so we both write from that perspective. Today in this message we rise up and call our mothers "blessed".

The command to honor our father and mother goes back to the Fifth Commandment: "Honor your father and your mother." It is certainly applicable all through childhood. A favorite memory verse we taught Ester during her childhood years was Ephesians 6:1, "Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right." But the honor is applicable after we reach adulthood as well and the attitude of this command still pertains though both our parents are now with the Lord.

Proverbs 31 begins with a mother's lesson, an oracle by King Lemuel his mother taught him. Today I urge each reader to rise up and call your mother blessed. Express honor toward her in your words and in your actions. For most of our readers this comes very naturally out of your gratitude for a loving and caring mother.

But some of you have lasting pain from your upbringing and your relationship is far less than God's ideal. Perhaps even now there is an underlying heartache in your present relationship with your mother.

But God's command to honor our father and mother, like the command in Hebrews 13:4 to honor marriage, has no exclusionary clause. I'm confident that He will give you the necessary grace to convey that honor, starting with the very fact that God breathed life into you as your mother brought you into this world.

If your parents are living be sure to express your love and appreciation to them, especially to your mother this weekend. Dad's turn is just around the corner. We both really miss doing this but are so glad we did it regularly while they were alive. The honor of our parents serves as a foundational base for all human honor.


Be encouraged today,


Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Daily prayer: Father, each spring as we observe tiny featherless fledglings pressed against their mothers in the hollow of their parents' nest, we're reminded of the human love children experience from their parents' safekeeping. We thank You for the loving care You extend to us through the preordained parents who've provided for us from birth to independence. Thank You for their model of love, sacrifice, duty, protection, and other virtuous qualities needed to properly raise a family. It has greatly influenced the way we raise our own children.

We also pray for those whose relationship with their parent is a role reversal where they must act as the parent when their own parent behaves as a needy or defiant child. May Your multiplied mercies sustain these caregivers in their ongoing difficult role so that, above all, You are honored and they find deep peace in the midst of the turmoil. Thank You, Father, for our human family, our spiritual family, and for our heavenly family that awaits our arrival on Your appointed day. In the name of Christ Jesus we pray, amen.

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Additional study: In our message yesterday on honoring marriage I used the foundational verse for marriage and the family in the Bible as established at Creation: "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24). This is the very first reference to father and mother in the Bible as well as marriage. We tend to read it with our knowledge and experience in mind. But consider Adam and Eve, who had no personal experience or knowledge of being raised by a father and mother, and at this point no knowledge of children either. In addition the notion of marriage and sexual union was not an experience they personally knew at this point in history; that is, being united and becoming one flesh.

This is a powerful lesson regarding the establishment of God’s pattern for the basic social unit in humanity. Of course this is consistently affirmed in the remainder of the Bible and has been understood by the human race right up to the current time. However in our own time we have seen a blasphemous attempt to, as one commentator puts it, radically redefine marriage, subverting society’s most central institution.

The true church of Jesus Christ has been consistent on this matter. For instance The Baptist Confession of Faith (1689) states “Marriage is to be between one man and one woman”. This has been consistently held in all confessions, doctrinal statements and position papers of all churches and denominations. Churches and denominations have had many issues they differed on but on this matter there was unity in understanding.

That is...right up to the last ten or fifteen years when many have abandoned the clear teaching of the Bible on this issue (as well as many others!!!). We are seeing a prophetic statement by Peter come true before our very eyes: "Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute" (2 Peter 2:2). The ESV translates this, “Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.”

We again call on our readers, in the midst of the increasing apostasy, to stay faithful to God and the Holy Scriptures. Contend for the Faith once for all entrusted.

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These songs have a theme of honoring mother.

"Everything to Me"  Video  Mark Schultz

"A Mother’s Love"  Video   Jim Brickman

"One Heartbeat At A Time"  Video   Steven Curtis Chapman

"Call Her Blessed"  Video  Stacey Noll

"Find Your Wings"  Video  Mark Harris

"When You Come Home"  Video  Billy Gilman

Mother's Day gift idea: Write a tribute!

Who Was King Lemuel?