For me Mum

A Mother’s Day Promise

It was the second semester of second grade when I made the single most important promise I would ever give to my mother. It would change my relationship with her forever. I would continually walk through the house with my shoes on and that didn’t bode well for me because mother was a stickler for clean carpet. With three boys and a dog, clean carpet was a difficult task. After continual lectures to take my shoes off upon entering the house, and seeing how upset my mother would get after neglecting her wish, I decided I would try my best to make certain I took my shoes off upon entering the house. The opportunity to seal my commitment came when my class was asked to write a promise in the local newspaper to our mothers out of recognition of Mother’s day. I thought it appropriate to reveal my newfound commitment through the newspaper. With thousands reading my promise, I spent the rest of my days trying to fulfill it.

I did fairly well with it too. To this day, the first thing I do upon entering my home is take off my shoes. I made the promise to obey my mom’s wishes because she struck fear into the depths of my soul. I wasn’t going to walk through the house anymore because, at that age, my mom was my world. She cooked, cleaned and loved me like any wonderful mother would and walking through her house with dirty shoes would risk losing everything, possibly my life.

I have been thinking a lot about the New Life and the commitment we should have to God because of it. The current sermon series deals with the New Life in Christ and because of it, my eyes and heart are open to a whole realm of scripture that challenges and causes great conviction. In the early portions of Deuteronomy, the Israelites are going to enter into the land God promised them. This is after the wanderings in the desert and Moses recaps their story to remind them how they got to where they are and what they need to do. The message is quite simply, “have no other gods, and love the one true Lord God Almighty.” Obedience and trust in God was at the heart of the message for the Israelites. Moses stressed obedience and trust because it was disobedience and failure to trust in God that caused so many problems before and after the Israelites entrance into the Promised Land. It doesn’t make sense to us why they could be disobedient after all the miraculous things God revealed to his people, but it was a continual problem for them.

You might be wondering what this has to do with me not taking off my shoes. I bring that story to light, because it’s an example of love causing obedience. I obeyed because of fear and love. I don’t know if I truly thought I was going to be kicked out of the house for not taking my shoes off, but I certainly wasn’t going to try her on the threat. And that, fear and love, is quite simply the type of attitude we need to have towards God. We struggle with obedience and trust in the New Life in Christ because we have lost the sense of fear and awe in God. We are told so much about a gushy lovey-dovey god who serves our every need and somehow we come to think the New Life is all about getting what we want, when we want it. This, in spite of the truth, has wreaked havoc on our faith and fellow Christian’s faith around the world. Obedience and true trust seem to be at an all time low. We trust God to do what will best suit us, but fail to trust in him to help us with drastically making known the kingdom of God. By that, I mean we offer up prayer for sicknesses of friends and family, which is fine, but we neglect prayer for the diligence, strength, and faith to turn the other cheek, walk the extra mile, and give the shirt off our back.

God wanted the Israelites to be faithful, obedient and trusting because He had plans of using them as a witness to the world. This witness was through a nation that was different, set apart and holy, unlike any nations of the world. People would come to know God through the reverent obedience of this faithful people. This position is now held within the Church, only as more than a holy nation, we are a holy people who are salt and light to the world and witnesses of the kingdom of God. This is no easy task. If as God’s holy people we fail to fear and love God with all that we are, I worry obedience and trust in God will never rebound. In a world where there are so many different ways to supposed happiness, we know there is only one way to a life with real meaning, and true joy. But the world tries convincing us otherwise, with false gods and prophets, telling us to trust and worship in things of this world and time (Fortune & Fame). Moses says in Deuteronomy 13:3-4 “The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.”

We hold fast to our God and his ways. The New Life in Christ isn’t about what our God can do for us, its what he has already done to invite us in to live life belonging to him. I ask one thing: make a promise to love God with all that you are and make appropriate steps to commit to that promise. We have a difficult task before us, but we must prove faithful, and be the true exemplars of fear, love, trust and obedience.

- Jordan