Time to Pray for Her Son
My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh. Proverbs 4:20-22
Mother to son (on the phone): Yes, I can come but I’ll have to come home on Monday because I have Bible Study on Tuesday.
Adult son: Oh Mom, you and that Bible Study.
Mother: You should do it, too. You might be surprised.
Son: No thanks, I only read non-fiction.
These may not be the exact words but this was the gist of the conversation. The mother was telling me about it because she was upset with herself because she did not have a good response. She believes the Bible is the inerrant word of God and her son thinks it is fiction, inspired and written by man, not the Holy Spirit. All she could do in response was groan at him.
This lady has attended church her whole life but has only started to really study the scriptures in the last couple of years. Her eyes have been opened to things she has not seen before. Her life is reflecting the changes God is making in her thinking. Her Christian friends are cheering and praising God because we know that she will be more and more blessed as her life and character conform more and more to the image of Christ!
However, to the world it is threatening. Why does she need to change? She was fine the way she was! I often wonder if this is because they see that the Christian is aiming high, for the standard set for us by Jesus Christ. The non-Christian knows in his heart he should want that but has no desire to please God. He is convicted of his own sin when seeing friends and family growing in holiness.
Many people are offended at the thought that we are all born sinful beings. It is really not that hard to see when we look around. Someone once asked me if I had to teach my own children to be good or to be bad when they were young. The answer was easy, they had to be taught to do right as the selfish desire to do things against God and others seemed to come naturally!
Romans 3:10 says that “none is righteous, no not one.” Romans 3:23 says that “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” God makes it pretty clear that this is a problem for every one ever born. No mother could ever deny it!
The Good news, as we know, is that God provided a solution to this problem by sending Christ to die for our sins. The wages of sin is death. Christ’s death pays those wages if we believe that we are sinful creatures who need a Savior. Then, when we die, whether our good deeds are greater than our bad deeds or the other way around, when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ He will see the righteousness of Jesus on each one who has believed, and we will spend eternity in heaven.
It takes faith to see the Truth of the scriptures. Faith is a gift of God. Ephesians 2:8-9 say, “ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
All of that to say that we are responsible to let others see and hear about our faith in Jesus Christ, in His death and resurrection that has satisfied all the charges of sin against the one who believes. But God is the one responsible for giving us faith. This Mom may have been able to give a great comeback and it still would not guarantee that God would have softened his heart at that moment.
There are many scriptures we have to be aware of and follow. We should be ready to preach the word, in season and out. (2 Timothy 4). We need to be able to give a reason for our hope (2 Peter 3:15). And we are to be salt and light in the world so others will glorify God for our good works! (Matthew 5)
But, for faithful mothers of children who are making jokes about the word of God, it might just be better to put those children into the hands of the One who can change the heart. Forget the great comeback or response to the mocking of God’s Word and remember the words of James 5:16, The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”