The Greatest Gift You Can Give to Your Mom

Mother’s Day is a day we honor all Moms. It’s a day to support Single Moms, encourage Adoptive Moms, be grateful for Foster Moms and comfort Moms who have lost a child. Not all Mothers travel the same road, but they are each loved by God and loved by those whose lives they have touched.

Mother’s Day poses problems for most men – especially what NOT to buy your wife. Although the only person a man usually shops for is his wife, the whole experience is a stressful one. Many a man has felt extreme frigid temperatures for a long period based on a poor present decision. As a veteran of these wars, I’m still not sure what to buy my wife, but I’ll pass on what not to buy her:

1. Don’t buy anything that plugs in. Anything that requires electricity is seen as utilitarian.

2. Don’t buy clothing that involves sizes. The chances are one in seven thousand that you will get her size right, and your wife will be offended the other 6999 times. “Do I look like a size 16?” she’ll say. Too small a size doesn’t cut it either: “I haven’t worn a size 8 in 20 years!”

3. Don’t buy anything that involves weight loss or self-improvement. She’ll perceive a six-month membership to a diet center as a suggestion that’s she’s overweight.

4. Don’t buy jewelry. The jewelry your wife wants, you can’t afford. And the jewelry you can afford, she doesn’t want.

While dad has a hard time thinking about what to give mom, Mother’s Day is a day when children think about what they can give their mothers in order to show their love and pay honor to them. What is the greatest gift that you can give your mother not only for Mother’s Day but for the rest of her life? It is not a gift that can be bought in a store but one that every one of us can give to our mothers. It is the gift of knowing that her child is doing right, living right, and right with God.

I. You can give her the gift of a son or daughter who is doing right

Proverbs 23:22–24 NKJV

22 Listen to your father who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she is old. 23 Buy the truth, and do not sell it, Also wisdom and instruction and understanding. 24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And he who begets a wise child will delight in him.

It is a mother’s nature to want to see her children excel in everything they do. They want them to do their best.

Patrick aged 10: "Never trust a dog to watch your food."

Michael aged 14: "When your dad is mad and asks you, "Do I look stupid?" don't answer him."

Joel, aged 10: "Don't pick on your sister when she's holding a cricket bat."

Andrew aged 9: "Puppies still have bad breath even after eating a Polo mint."

Taylia aged 11: "When your mom is mad at your dad, don't let her brush your hair."

Omar aged 9: "You can't hide a piece of broccoli in your milk."

Mitchell aged 12: "Don't sneeze in front of your mom when you're eating a cracker."

Michael aged 14: "Never tell your mom her diet's not working."

Now this is wisdom that every mother would love....

Proverbs 10:1 NKJV

1 The proverbs of Solomon: A wise son makes a glad father, But a foolish son is the grief of his mother.

What is the greatest gift that you can give your mother not only for Mother’s Day but for the rest of her life? You can do the right thing, but how do you do that right...

II. You can give her the gift a son or daughter who is living right

Ephesians 6:2 NKJV

2 “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise:

One way to honor your parents (mother) give her the gift of living right. Making wise life choices. Your actions reflect onto your parents.

3 John 4 NKJV

4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

Living right means walking in the truth of God’s word.

Proverbs 29:15 NKJV

15 The rod and rebuke give wisdom, But a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.

To live rightly begins in the home where loving discipline is experienced. This is how a child will grow up into an adult who knows the differences between what is right and what is wrong. We must all be tough, for if we are left to ourselves we will bring shame.

It has been said, "To discipline a child is not to punish them for stepping out of line, but to teach that child the way they ought to go. Discipline therefore includes everything that you do in order to help children learn."

Children, who are not properly disciplined, are among the most miserable of children and turn into miserable adults. Unruly and spoiled children are not the blessings that the Bible says they should be to parents.

Now parents, Mom and Dad, you must train your children in ways of the Lord...

Proverbs 22:6 NKJV

6 Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.

Training up a child involves discipline, teaching them how to respect others, to be obedient and showing the the differences between right and wrong according to scripture.

For if you do not they will be lift to themselves and they will bring shame upon you....

What is the greatest gift that you can give your mother not only for Mother’s Day but for the rest of her life? You can Do Right and you Can Live Right, but again how do you do that....

Well the last and final point will answer both those questions on how to do right and live right...

III. You can give her the gift of a son or a daughter who is right with God.

Luke 18:9–14 NKJV

9 Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ 13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The greatest blessing that a child can give his mother is to realize that he is a sinner in need of a Savior and to give his life completely to Christ.

Charles Spurgeon said, “I cannot tell how much I owe to the prayers of my good mother...I remember her once praying, “Now Lord, if my children go on in sin it will not be from ignorance that they perish, and my soul must bear swift witness against them at the day of judgment if they lay not hold on Christ and claim Him as their personal Savior.”

A mother is in anguish when she sees her children suffer in any way. Consider the tremendous anguish of a mother whose son or daughter dies unsaved. For we know the consequences of being unsaved.

Luke 16:27–28 NKJV

27 “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’

Godly parents want to see their children saved, to have that peace of knowing that it is well with their children’s eternal destiny.

More important than success in this life, more important than happiness, fame or fortune is knowing Jesus Christ.

Mark 8:36 NKJV

36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?

The greatest gift you can give Mom on Mother’s Day is not something that you buy with money. It is not a gift that gives momentary satisfaction.

The greatest gift you can give is that of showing her that you are doing and living right because you heart is right with God.

For to truly do what is right and to live in the right kind of way only happens when your heart is right with God.