Today many across the country are celebrating the day called Mother’s Day. The beginning of this holiday is attributed to a Lady named Anna Jarvis. She is said to have made the first official organization of the holiday we call Mother’s Day back in 1908 honoring her mother Ann and work she had done supporting mothers who had lost sons in the civil war. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the first nationally recognized Mother’s Day in honor of those mothers whose sons had died in war. Many other parts of the history of today’s holiday are steeped in the traditions of recognizing mothers and motherhood by giving cards, gifts, and wearing carnations. All of these started well before the recognition given by the National law makers. But what does scripture say about mothers?

Mothers have always been integral to God’s plan for the salvation of the human race. One of the first instances we see of the importance of motherhood is in Genesis 3:20, when the Bible tells us that Adam called his wife Eve because she was the mother of all living. Eve became the mother of the human race. Without her, none of us would be reading this today. We can read further on in Genesis 17:16-22. Here, God is telling Abraham that Sarah will be a mother of nations and that kings will come from her. God is telling Abraham that his wife and mother of his children will be an important part of the covenant He is establishing with him. Mothers have been important from the beginning. The word mother is mentioned 155 times in the Old Testament.

Mothers are important to us throughout life but especially in those early impressionable years of childhood. Verses like Proverbs 1:8 come to mind saying…My son, hear the instruction of your father, and do not forsake the law of your mother. The Christian mother is tasked with one of the greatest responsibilities ever bestowed and that is the instruction of young children. It is her duty, whether her children are destined to be kings as the children of Sarah were or if they were meant to be the gentleman down the pew from us, that she instructs them in the ways of God from their earliest days. No greater honor is there than to be in charge of molding young minds for service to the Lord. We should be ever thankful for the wonderful Christian mothers who have passed on their light to the rest of the world so many may know the blessings that come from knowing the ways of God.

Bearing fruit is a common illustration in the Bible because it fitly describes the process of one practicing God’s word.  In the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:3-8), it is the good ground that receives the seed and brings forth much fruit.  In order to be good ground, we must take in the word of God and allow it to change our thinking and actions.  Psalm 1:3 describes the righteous man as, “a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.”  Let’s notice three truths of Psalm 1:3 that are also illustrated in Jesus’ parable of the vine and the branches.

First, the righteous man is planted in the right place to produce fruit.  He is “planted by the rivers of water.”  He is next to the life-giving stream.  One must be planted in Christ to bring forth proper fruit.  Jesus gives an illustration of a vine and branches in John 15.  In verse 5 he says, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”  It is impossible to bring forth proper fruit to God if one is not connected to Christ.  One may do a lot of good deeds, but unless one gets into Christ by the initial obedience to the Gospel, one cannot bring forth fruit unto God (Romans 6:3-4; Galatians 3:26-27).  There will be those on judgment day who will insist they have done many good deeds, but Christ will reply, “I never knew you” (Matthew 7:21-23).

Second, once one is planted in the proper place, one must bear fruit.  The righteous man “brings forth his fruit.”  God’s plan for us is to bear fruit once we are in Christ. Consider Romans 7:4-5, “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.”  Jesus concludes His illustration of the vine and branches by saying, “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (John 15:8).

Third, the righteous man not only is fruitful, but he is fruitful at the right time.  He brings forth fruit “in his season.” Jesus said in John 15:2, “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”  We learn that we must not languish in the fruit-bearing process.  The Lord’s will is that we bear more fruit.  If we do not bear fruit, then we will be taken away.  Thus, the time to bear fruit is now, lest we lose the connection we have to the source of life.  Too many put off bearing fruit until later only to find that it is too late.  We must be ready for harvest time.

May we all strive to be like the righteous man described in Psalm 1.  If we are planted in the right place, in Christ, if we bring forth fruit, and if we do it at the right time, then we will be righteous.  We are known by our fruits (Matthew 7:15-20).

Just before Israel entered Canaan, God gave them instructions through Moses recorded in the book of Deuteronomy.  In Deuteronomy 17:14-20, commands are given concerning the conduct of the king.  It would be hundreds of years before Israel had an earthly king, but God knew they would ask for one (Deut. 17:14). God was to reign over them, but they would reject Him in favor of a man (1 Sam. 8:7). Still, God in His goodness gave orders to prevent the trouble that was liable to accompany a monarch. God foreknew the evils that would come when they had a king like all the nations (1 Sam. 8:5, 20).

God also knew what would cause a king to turn away from Him; thus, He gave these instructions: “But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’ Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself” (Deut. 17:16-17).  God went on to command that the king write a copy of the law for himself in a book (Deut. 17:18) that should be kept with the him that he should read it all the days of his life (Deut. 17:19). Why? Positively, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes (Deut. 17:19). Negatively, that his heart not be lifted up so that he turns aside from the commandment (Deut. 17:20). Additionally, that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel (Deut. 17:20).

The reign of Solomon exemplifies precisely why God commanded such things. Solomon did everything God had warned should not be done by Israel’s king.  He multiplied silver, gold and horses to himself and even had horses brought out of Egypt. “And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen; he had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem. The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar trees as abundant as the sycamores which are in the lowland.   Also Solomon had horses imported from Egypt and Keveh; the king’s merchants bought them in Keveh at the current price” (1 Kings 10:26-28).  He also multiplied wives to himself of other nations. “But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites—from the nations of whom the LORD had said to the children of Israel, ‘You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.’ Solomon clung to these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart” (1 Kings 11:1-3).  It is no wonder then that the next few verses say, “For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not fully follow the LORD, as did his father David” (1 Kings 11:4-6).

God’s commands are not arbitrary.  He knows what influences people and what people can handle.  God did not forbid intermarrying with other nations because He was racist, but because He knew Israel would worship the false gods of foreign people they married.  God gave these commands so that the days of the king and his children would be prolonged in the kingdom.  As a consequence of Solomon’s conduct, the kingdom divided shortly after his death.  Do we today take heed to what the Lord says?  Or do we brush aside His commands and warnings and think to ourselves that we will be able to handle sin, be friends with the world, and still get by?  We are deceiving ourselves and are in for destruction if we think that we can (Gal. 6:7, 8).