Mothers Day 2023

Mom’s Know How to Raise Their Children

The first thing we see here is that they are traveling as a family to the Passover Feast. It was not required that the family attend. Only Jewish men were required to attend the feast. The trip from Nazareth to Jerusalem is about 85 miles and would take about three days.

The normal way of travel was to travel as a family. This was for safety reasons. Bandits and thieves were opportunistic in the times of the feasts. The bigger the caravan the less likely a bandit would attack. So families would travel together with their neighbors and sometimes even neighboring villages.

In this recording Jesus is 12 years old. He is one year shy of being Bar Mitzvah. this sis when a boy is ordained as a man. This was done at the passover feast in Jerusalem. Mary is probably showing Jesus around Jerusalem so He will be prepared for His Bar Mitzvah.

Mary was preparing Jesus for His next phase in life. She wanted Him to know the customs, places, and the scriptures he would need to Know for His Bar Mitzvah.

Mary knew that Jesus was the Son of God and wanted to prepare Him for life as an adult. Can you imagine the pressure on Mary to get it right with Jesus. She made sure He was in the temple every time it was open, took him to all the feasts, and taught him the Bible in their home. She did all she could to raise the Son of God.

Mom’s have to know how to raise their children today.

The pressures on kids today are much more than they were in Jesus day. The availability for sin and harm is much more readily available today. Children are easily influenced by friends and screens today. Mom’s must be vigilant to monitor both. How well a mom does this will affect your child’s future.

A mom must make sure that her children are hanging out with the right kind of people. Friends are much more influential especially in the teen years. When they are young mom’s can control who they hang out with. When they become mobile it becomes a little more difficult. It is important because the influences you allow to come into your child’s life will dictate the path that they travel in life. Tell Warren Buffet story about how to be successful.

The second thing is what are your kids watching on TV, Ipads, computers, or cell phones? When mom’s allow these things to serve as babysitters they are setting their children up for failure. A mom must monitor everything their child is allowing to influence them. There is a lot of evil behind the screens that children have access to. Robust monitoring will help what type of access your children have regarding harmful influences.

The third thing I would like to mention is where do you take your children. Are your children in church on a regular basis? Do you put more emphasis on extracurricular activities than you do church? That which you prioritize is what your children will see as important. A mom must ask, “Is what I am involving my children in going to help them as an adult or hinder them as an adult.” I can ensure you that regular study and teaching your children the Word of God will be the best thing you can do for your children to prepare them for adulthood. We will discuss this a little later.

Finally, Mom’s must pray! They must pray for their children and themselves to raise their children.

Mom’s Aren’t Perfect

When Mary and Joseph left Jerusalem, they forgot Jesus! How can you forget Jesus! Before we are to hard on Mary and Joseph we must understand how they traveled. Typically the women and children traveled at the front of the caravan and the men traveled at the back of the caravan. So as one can see, Mary probably thought Jesus was with Joseph and Joseph thought Jesus was with Mary. At night they would gather around the fire to discuss the journey. They probably realized that Jesus was not with either one. Can you imagine the fear that struck Mary when she realized her 12 year old son Jesus was missing?

The bible says that when they realized He was missing they went back to Jerusalem to find Him. This was dangerous because they were now not traveling with the caravan. This exposed them to harm. This is what a good mom does for her children. She will risk her own safety for the safety of her child.

They looked all over Jerusalem for three days and could not find Him. They finally found Him at the temple. Why they didn’t start there, I don’t know.

When she found Jesus she chastised Him for worrying her. Jesus reminded her that she did not need to worry because He was safe in His Father’s house.

So the two mistakes Mary made was leaving Jesus behind and then not understanding why Jesus did what He did. Mom’s you will probably make some similar mistakes.

Mom’s sometimes make mistakes.

Mom’s how many of you have made a mistake when raising your kids. Have you ever left them at the ballpark, church, school or any other place thinking someone else was going to pick them up? With all the activities that our children are involved in, there will most likely that you will have a logistical error. Don’t Beat yourself up.

All you have to do is understand that the possibility exists and prepare your child on how to handle it if it does happen. Sometimes mom’s will have to stop what they are doing and go take care of their child. I can’t tell you how many times Rachel has had to stay after hours to call a mom to come get their child. It is going to happen.

Mary didn’t understand that Jesus had to be in the temple teaching the teachers amazing things. The way learning would take place during this day is when you were asked a question you rebutted it with a response that showed you understood the teaching and asked a deeper question. Jesus astounded the teachers with His depth of understanding and knowledge.

There will be times when your children will do things and you will ask yourself, “why is he doing that?” It could possibly be that your child is acting in a way that is all about God’s plan. It is important to remember that our kids do not live out our dreams for them, but they fulfill what God has called them to do!

Mom’s Have To Let Go!

When Jesus responded to His mom about being in His Father’s house it was a declarative statement about their relationship. Notice the phrase “I had to be” it was not up to Mary any more. Jesus was all about doing the Lord’s business. Though He remained in subjection to them His focus was on the will of God.

Mary treasured all these things in her heart because she knew that her Son was following the will of God. It was not going to be easy, but it was necessary. As a result Jesus kept increasing in wisdom, stature, and in favor with God and men.

Mom’s have to let their children go!

This is the hardest thing to do as a mom. You spend your whole life pouring into your children and then you have to let them go and be what God calls them to be. This is difficult because you no longer are in control of what they do. They are adults and must make decisions on their own. It seems as if you are no longer needed. However, you will forever be mom!

This is why raising them in the word of God is so important. When you instill in them biblical principles, they will be well prepared to handle whatever life throws at them. The quality of your raising typically does not show up until you complete the process of letting your child go and seeing the blessing of being a mom.

The top priority for every mom is to lead their child into a relationship with Jesus Christ. The second is just as important and that is to disciple your children. Demonstrate what it looks like to follow Jesus.