Happy Mother's Day!

In Mark 7 Jesus contrasts faithful service to God from the mockery many of the Pharisees had made it. He explains how their lack of willingness to sacrifice for their parents (for example) was a rejection of God’s will, and therefore it was in vain. (Mark 7:6-13) He uses the word Corban, which He defines as a gift for God. In the Hebrew, the word is Qorban, which has a lot to do with “closeness” and “a relative.” What God would have liked to see the children do for their parents is to be willing to sacrifice for them when they were in need.

A 17th Century theologian said, “Sacrifice is a part of life. It's supposed to be. It's not something to regret. It's something to aspire to.” There’s no higher honor than to sacrifice. This was what God wanted from the Israelites during the days of animal sacrifices, and it’s what He wants from us today. Romans 12:1, “…present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God,” which is truly the way to worship him.

Many people say they are willing to sacrifice anything to be happy, but would they give something up to bless someone else? Jesus said in John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.” And in Acts 20:35, “It’s more blessed to give than to receive.”

Perhaps it’s for this reason that we feel so compelled to honor our military, or our teachers, or our police and other servicemen. But as satisfying as sacrifice may END UP feeling, we don’t always feel that during the sacrifice.

This Mother’s Day, we honor our mothers for the continual sacrifices they make for others. They set the standard of genuine love, nurturing, compassion, and selflessness. The Bible has several examples of women who were willing to give up so much for those they loved. Hannah, in particular, gave the child she prayed for over to Eli the priest to serve God (1 Samuel 1-2). It might be hard to put ourselves in her shoes to understand giving up someone you waited so long to get, we can also realize that when we give our children over to God, then we are perhaps giving the greatest blessing of all to the ones we love – the Love of God! (John 3:16)