Mother’s Day – Cross Culture Church

May 2018 Article: “El Shaddai”

The names of God were revealed to individuals based upon their most current need. He revealed to Moses that He is the “I Am.” Then He made it even clearer that He is “I Am that I Am.” As new challenges would arise, He proved Himself to be sufficient to meet every need. As El Shaddai, He is God Almighty; Warrior or Destroyer; God of the Wilderness or Mountain. But the name that expresses His ability to nurture and meet needs is Enough or Sufficient; The Breasted One. We see attributes of God displayed through nature. Man (male and female) was made in His image and after His likeness. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing! (Luke 13:34-35) The hen (female) gathers and protects her offspring from invaders. She is willing to lay her own life down for her brood. Even before the eggs are hatched, she stands guard and the eggs can only be taken by force, facing her hottest wrath. Jesus came to earth to give full expression to the heart of God on earth. So much can be learned from His example of both motherhood and fatherhood. The basic role of a father is to provide, guide, and protect. This is the father’s, primary, but not exclusive, role in the family. The mother’s role is to nurture, feed, and encourage. Alhough she may wear many other hats, she will not neglect these key duties from infancy to adulthood. What both parents have derives from what is contained with God as the “I Am.” The love that we received from our mothers originated from our God. Even those who would extend themselves as mothers, not necessarily from birthing but from loving and caring, are manifesting the character of God through what they share with others.

It is God’s desire to reveal Himself through His Son Jesus Christ and for Jesus to reveal Himself through His Church. The mothers in the Church serve a vital role, particularly for those whose mothers are no longer alive. No one outgrows their need for nurture. As we grow older, those who were once nurtured become our nurturers. Those who we once protected become our protectors. It is as if God reverses the roles and allows the children of aging parents to give back what they had received as children. It is an honor to express love when there is nothing expected in return. This is the attitude and actions of El Shaddai. He revealed His love to the children of Israel in spite of their rebellion and hardness of heart. He showed us what unconditional love was all about. Children cannot care for themselves but are cared for as they learn how to give and receive care and love. The mother’s breasts are filled with milk containing all the nutrients needed for the child to develop. The baby does not have to learn how to suck, but instinctively is drawn to the breast as to receive the blessing contained within them similarly as we are drawn to Christ. When the mom’s breasts are full, the infant is hungry and mom needs to “express” or give forth her nurture. She is in pain unless she is able to give to her child what he or she needs. How marvelous is God’s creation of womanhood! Even after the child has grown, her greatest pain is not being able to give her child what is needed. She would be willing to do without herself in order to meet the needs of her children. God so loved us that He gave up His Only Begotten Son in order to meet our deepest need for redemption. He guards and protects His investment in us as a mother hen watches over her brood. He is El Shaddai, the God who is more than Enough, to supply our every need according to His riches in glory. Mothers help us to understand this truth and the provisions connected to it. May we appreciate God’s gift of motherhood as we worship the El Shaddai who sufficiently feeds us daily, so that we should never be left wanting for what we desperately need.

01 May 0Comments 0Likes

May 2016 Article: “Mother, the Womb that Incubates Potential”

Posted by wwalker Categories: Articles

It must be pointed out for one to fully realize how important a mother really is. When we take the time to cease from our daily efforts and ponder the value given to the second person of God’s creation, we cannot help but thank God for such as wonder. Yes, fathers originate the process. As God is our heavenly Father; Pater in Hebrew meaning, “brought forth from,” that which is produced must be developed if it is reach its destiny. The seed would remain impotent and eventually die unless it was not deposited into the womb. There it is nurtured and protected in order to be formed into the idea of its original design. Who but God could have thought of such a wondrous plan as to take two distinctly different people and use them as His instruments to bring forth life? Not only does God place this miracle within her physical body, but within her mind and soul is the passion and desire to see that life become all that God intended for it to be. Within the womb is God’s creative genius, and outside of the womb is the demonstration of His love. The continuous love of a mother provides an environment for a child to grow up knowing that he or she is cared for. The world is a vicious and violent place to live. People, not knowing who they are, will act out various roles of reality given to them by those that they admire. Their twisted thinking often lead them to violate the ethical code of humanity. They lose sight of their purpose and have no idea of life’s truest meaning. But the mother, from which nurture was first initiated serves as a reminder that there still remains a person that cares, therefore there must be a God that cares.

If love exists anywhere it reminds us of the fact that love still remains. If it remains, it must generate from its origin. Therefore, if there was no other indication that God is the same the dynamic of a mother and child would be enough to reveal to us of this truth. Jesus in His lamentation over Jerusalem expressed this love for His people. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Matt 23:37) Not only does a mother provide and protect her children but even in the animal world, that protective love is exhibited. You may threaten to rob a mother of her valuables, and even threaten to take her life, but woe be unto you if you threaten to do harm to her children. She will do whatever is necessary to protect that which was brought forth from her own womb. It is an extension of God’s love through Jesus Christ for His own. She is there regardless of the life altering decisions made by her children. She is willing to express her love but the only way to know it is when it is fully received.

When Jesus was being crucified; while He was hanging on the cross, He took time out of dying to speak to His disciple, John saying to him, “Behold Thy mother.” What He was saying to John was, “John, take care of mother and treat her has your own.” Why was this moment so special? Jesus was expressing His appreciation for the thirty-three years of nurture and love received from her. He was reminded of her value in His life and the encouragement He had received from her throughout the many years of life and ministry. He was saying to John; “treat her as I would treat her. The acts of kindness I had received, treat her as if it was you instead of Me.” Now as we celebrate our mothers, let us remember that God gave her to us as His gift. Love her as Jesus loved His mother. The potency of His love is expressed through her.

01 May 0Comments 0Likes

May 2015 Article: “Behold Your Mother”

Posted by Cross Culture Church Categories: Articles

“When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” (27) Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.” John 19:26-27

This is a story of adoption. It is the transference of love and care by a son to a beloved friend. It is also having a new son to fill the void created through the loss of a beloved son. Throughout this exchange, love is the primary theme as mother and son/ son and mother are connected in a new relationship. The background is the cross, while Jesus, the Son of God, pronounces His blessings upon them while enduring His greatest crisis. He did not merely focus upon His current condition, but looked ahead at the future needs of His best friend and His mother. Those who love Jesus also love the objects of His affection. He felt at ease that the treatment of His mother would be the same as He would have treated her.

This scene illustrates to us the duality of the expression of true love. True love fills a need, but at the same time, love creates a need. What is poured forth from the heart must not leave a vacuum. The empty feeling experienced by loving without reciprocation leads to deep frustration and pain. A mother will carry a child for months with the anticipation of nurturing and providing for her bundle of joy. But if she miscarries before her child reaches full term, no outlet is available for her to express all of the stymied emotions of love and care. Her love requires an object where she can display her affection. To those mothers whose pregnancy was aborted by circumstances beyond their control or a decision that they now regret, Jesus provides an outlet by allowing one to adopt another to replace what may be absent.

The pain suffered by loss, whether it is by divorce, the death of a loved one, or by abandonment, is real pain. There will be moments when it may appear overwhelming and tempting to close one’s heart as to never love again. A closed heart produces a root of bitterness whereby many others are defiled. They will either be burdened down by depression or vindictive as a protective mechanism in one’s defense. In either case, much damage is done to the soul. The heart must be opened in order to allow another person in. Jesus knows what we need and is ready at all times to meet our deepest need. John needed a mother to comfort him at the departure of his best friend. A mother can be confided in where even a man who may be reluctant to express his tender side can cry in her arms. Additionally, a mother also needs a child. There is a special connection between mothers and sons. She is his role model of femininity just as fathers are role models to their daughters of masculinity. Jesus received His nurturing from His mother. She was there from the beginning and was determined to be there at the end.

What Jesus knew and promised was that His absence would be temporary. He would rise from the dead, but not as the Son of Mary or the Son of man, but in His resurrected body as the Son of God. His Spirit filled His followers, including the mother that once knew Him as her Son. It is the Spirit of the Son of God that makes all earthly relationships meaningful. Mothers can be godly mothers when the Spirit of God’s Son has enveloped them. Sons can be godly sons when the His Spirit interprets the truest meaning of life and relationships. Let His love arise in your hearts—mothers and sons, fathers and daughters, in order to make you completely whole.

08 May 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: May 8, 2013

Posted by Cross Culture Church Categories: Meditations

“Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” John 19:27

Jesus made an oral testament to John, the beloved disciple to provide as He would for her after His death. It was a binding agreement in the company of others if accepted, to care for her needs as the second oldest son. Even though there were other children, his responsibility was to treat her as He would treat her in absentia. John knowing Jesus was to compensate for the void that would otherwise be in her life. This example is a challenge to every son and daughter to consider the needs of parents. To honor our father and mother is to provide for them what is needed. Jesus told John to look intensively at the woman that will become his mother. And He told His mother Mary to look intensively at the man who would become her son. A new relationship was to be forged at that very moment. As we look at our mothers, if we could for a moment see what Jesus saw in His own mother. She was the vessel chosen by God for Him to enter into the earth. We owe a great degree of gratitude to our mothers, regardless of their weaknesses. They were the chosen vessels from which we were born.

04 May 0Comments 0Likes

What Our Mothers Taught Us

Posted by Cross Culture Church Categories: Articles

As our first teachers, our mothers taught us how to walk, how to talk, how and what to feel, and how to love by loving us with a special kind of love. Her love was unconditional. Even when there was nothing to support it, she loved you just because she was your mother and you were her child.

On the cross before Jesus surrendered His spirit into the hands of His Father, He told John, “Behold thy mother”. i.e.; “take care of my mother and treat her as your own. Be the son to her that I was in my absence.” His role was to fill what would otherwise be a void in her life. But suppose the conditions were opposite: who would be the kind of mother that Mary was to Jesus? Yes, one may have friends who express a platonic love for each other, but the depth of a mother’s love is a category exclusive to one who is able to reflect upon your history. Regardless of what you may do or become in life, she still remembers her little baby boy or darling baby girl. We would often wish that she would let us grow up, even though she may be proud of what you may have become. She still remembers those days when your diaper needed to be changed, or those times when you were making mud pies with tobacco butt icing.

One of the most precious gifts God gave us is the gift of memory. Our memories may be flawed at times, like the times when we forgot to send the card or show appreciation for things that deserve special notice. However, despite our shortcomings, there are some things that are indelibly imprinted upon the hearts and minds of every child who had a mother like me. It is impossible to forget the times when you hurt her feelings by doing some things that you shouldn’t have done, but her pain would so quickly vanish when her heart would resolve that regardless, you are still her child. She stood with you during the times when you achieved some honor as the result of some victory, whether it be a star for good behavior in class or a diploma for completing some academic achievement. She was there reflecting your pride and sometimes outshining you in it. You belonged to her and she belonged to you.

This reflection is from the heart of a son who, in retrospect, is here to remind every mother’s son of how deserving she is of honor. Allow this day to reflect what you should feel every day. This day should highlight her contributions as being significant in molding your character. God gave us mothers to express His heart of care and nurturing. In expressing His love for us, Jesus even said, “I would have taken you under My wings as a mother for her young.” So much more could come out of understanding the dynamic of motherhood if we could just comprehend and appreciate the value of what God has given us in such a lovely package. Yes, time has made its mark upon her body. Although her steps may be slower, her hair may be gray, and her mind may not be as sharp as it once was, remember the swiftness of her response when she had the energy. Your strength is there to compensate for her weakened state.

Always strive to make her proud of what you have become and to show her that you took her life seriously. She did not give birth to a failure, nor did she produce a problem for others. Her life ought to be a continuum through your progressive expression of love and effective contributions to others. Her legacy continues because you are alive. Just as she committed her life to raising you as her child, commit your life to the only One who can direct you towards what she now sees and attempted to express in and through her life. Your mother had a glimpse of who Jesus is conveyed her perception through the people that He placed in our lives. Now, as we mature in our understanding of Christ, we must see and embrace the full picture.