This weekend we celebrate Mother’s Day and I hope we will take the time and honor your mother or her memory, for no other reason than she gave you your life. None of us would be here without our mother’s decision to give birth to us. Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I am reminded of one Mother’s decision; Randy Alcorn shares the story of a missionary couple’s decision in an article he wrote for LifeNews.com;
“In 1985, the Tebow family, with four children, was living in the Philippines as missionaries. Pam Tebow contracted amoebic dysentery, likely from contaminated drinking water. She fell into a coma and received strong drugs to combat the infection.
It turned out she was pregnant with her fifth child. Those drugs caused the placenta to detach from the uterine wall, depriving the fetus—which I prefer to call the child—of oxygen.
When it was realized that she was pregnant, doctors stopped the drugs but said that the high doses of medicine had already damaged the fetus (you don’t call him or her a baby when you want him aborted, but in fact that “product of conception” was Timmy Tebow, the same person who is now just older and bigger).
The doctors believed there was danger to Pam and that the baby would not survive, or if he did, would have very serious problems.
His parents went to the best doctor in their area of the Philippines. The doctor told his mother in a slow monotone that “An abortion is the only way to save your life.”
As Tim says in his book, “According to [the doctor], the ‘mass of fetal tissue’ or ‘tumor’—me—had to go.”
Pam refused to have an abortion and asked for God’s help. She was in bed rest at a Manila hospital for the final two months of the pregnancy.
Bob and Pam prayed for a healthy baby, but they left that up to God.
After Timmy was born, the doctor who delivered him said only a small part of the placenta was attached, but it was “just enough to keep your baby nourished all these months.”
My thoughts this week turned to servanthood. Serving others requires that we put our own desires aside for their benefit. It also requires that we use our knowledge and understanding of their needs to meet them. Serving others is not a passive undertaking, it requires thoughtful, sacrificial decisions and actions.
One of the greatest assets a true servant possesses is humility? Humility overcomes pride and ego and allows us to serve. Think of some of the servants you know, our value of them is formed by their level of humility.
We all know people who are full of themselves; full of talent, have all the right connections, can do anything, but for some reason we never seem to warm up to them. We almost love to hate them. They display an attitude that doesn’t allow others room. They are the only ones that matter.
That lack of humility can interfere with their ability to taste true satisfaction and fulfilment. They come off with an attitude that they are better than everyone else; that we should honor them because of who they think they are.
I remember being encouraged by Trevor Bayne and the way he handled winning arguably the biggest race in a driver’s career, the Daytona 500. He honored God and acknowledged that it was only through God’s grace that he had the opportunity to be in victory lane.
We all have to realize that no matter who we are or what we can do, we will not taste true success without first acknowledging we are only able to do these things by the grace of God. Humbling ourselves before God allows Him to guide our lives in the way they should go.
We may seem successful, but all the awards and victories are only window dressing, when the bright lights fade, who will be by our side? Only those we humbly served. If we don’t humbly submit to God and His direction for our life we will not taste true satisfaction and fulfillment.
Do you remember the scene at the cross; Jesus looked down and saw his mother there, beside herself in grief. Standing next to her was the disciple that Jesus loved, John. As he hung, dying on the cross, he honored the humble service of his mother and asked John to care for her. John took her into his home and made sure she was provided for.
Why, because of Mary’s willingness to humbly serve God, because as a teenage girl scared to death, she allowed herself to be used by God? Remember the story of Christ’s birth, how the angel came and spoke to Mary. How the angel told this young woman that she would give birth to the Son of God, Jesus. She was frightened and scared but that did not overcome her desire to humbly serve God.
Luke 1:38; “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.
We spend a large portion of our lives storing up treasures that will only fade away. Consider changing that. Consider turning your life over to God, through Jesus and welcome the Holy Spirit into your heart. Consider humbly bowing before God and recite the words of that young teenage girl, “I am the Lord’s servant, may it be with me as you have said.” Remember
Luke 1:37; “… nothing is impossible with God.”
Blessings,
Pastor Don