The Bible holds up mothers as an example for everyone of how we should act toward those we care about. The Apostle Paul did this in how he planted the new church in Thessalonika. As we think about moms and how they display God’s heart, we can see three aspects that, if we apply them to our own relationships, we will better reflect God’s care for others.
A Mother’s Heart:
Of Affection
Of Anguish
Of Hope
A Mother’s Heart of Affection (1 Thessalonians 2:7-9)
7 Instead, we were like young children among you. Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, 8 so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. 9 Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you (1 Thessalonians 2:7-9, NIV).
A mother’s heart is first gentle. An example was our son calling out for me just to have me respond.
“Being gentle means I recognize his needs and respond in love and not frustration.”
When I had our son, I realized how dependent he was on me, just like I am to be on the Lord. I joyfully cared for him as the Father does me.
As he grew more independent, I realized he could make bad choices but that in love I would still pursue a relationship with him. He would always be my son and even more true, my Father in heaven would pursue me no matter what I did.
Paul was sharing the truth that Jesus Christ alone truly knows, loves, and frees us. But Paul was also sharing his very life with them as an opportunity for them to see the truth of Christ in their own lives.
A Mother’s Heart of Anguish (2 Corinthians 11:27-29)
27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? (2 Corinthians 11:27-29, NIV)
Paul goes on to ask the Thessalonians to remember the labor and hardship that he and his team went through so they wouldn’t be a burden to them.
If you are a mother you have had heartache. Talk to most moms and they have some current concern for their kids, regardless of their age.
Paul is describing ministry. When we love others the way that God does, and how Paul did, our hearts will break. Their weaknesses and sins affect us and we hurt for them in their choices.
I asked my mom for her parenting advice and she usually says, "Pray like crazy."
“You can only do it with God’s help.”
A Mother’s Heart of Hope (Romans 15:13)
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13, NIV).
I want to close with another passage that has been so helpful to me as a mom. I wanted to remind myself the truth that there is hope. I wanted my kids to remember that there is hope. So before they left for school I repeated this verse aloud to them.
In loving others and giving them ourselves, remember God is the God of hope. He fills us, universe-size filling, with joy and peace in believing. Why? So we can abound in universe-size hope in a God-size amount of power in the Holy Spirit. He alone gives us the ability to have this heart for those we care for.
“Having a mother’s heart makes one vulnerable.”
This quote from C.S. Lewis is helpful: "To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”
The Lord Jesus had the ultimate heart that moms reflect. He loved us so much, He went to the cross in agony and bore our sins in His body. He was crushed for our healing and His wounds made us whole.
As a result, He is our hope and gives Himself to anyone who will receive Him, giving forgiveness, a restored relationship with God, and making each believer a child of the Father.
