Mother’s role in bringing up the child in the right and godly way…..indeed its right that Father and mother are both duly obliged to up bring the Child and scripture stresses on that too and it admonishes us to strictly confine to it. No doubt Father’s are the overall spiritual head but upbringing a child takes teamwork and each one has to bring in their best part…
Fathers and mothers have a role to nurture and influence spiritual development of their children since the family is the first community of faith that children find themselves in and has a powerful influence on the development of children’s faith. Parents are the first educators of children in everything and especially spiritual matters. When parents talk about God and practice godly virtues, they influence their children’s spirituality.
Parents who value and appreciate spirituality are likely to raise children who value spirituality as well and the reverse is true. Hence, there is a relationship between parental spirituality and their children’s spirituality, faith and practice. It is within the family that children are spiritually nurtured. Parents play an important role in the formative stages on children’s lives. They instil values that inform children’s beliefs and expected behaviour as they go through their developmental stages of life. Therefore, Christian parents are expected to nurture their children to develop values that give emphasis to Christ-like character such as; compassion, empathy, love, kindness, care and moral responsibility among others as expected in biblical teachings (Proverbs 22:6) that require parents to train their children in the ways they should go. Hence, parental influence in moral and spiritual development of children is a sacred and God given responsibility. Through parental responsibility, Christian mother have an opportunity and privilege to influence their children with regard to their spiritual growth and development.
Today I would like to magnify the role of a mother in a child’s life through Scriptures and to elaborate on the impact a mother’s teachings have on the child’s growth and maturity.
A mother loves at all times; yes, she is also available 24/7 at the beck and call of the child no matter the age, when the child calls the mother responds. Sometimes even before they call she can understand the child and respond to the need; such is the fabrication of the mind, its interlinked and intertwined together with the child…… I know not how and why, and I prefer not to just write out my assumptions but what I know is this ,God in His brilliance designed it so……
First before one identifies the role of motherhood, it is important to acknowledge that being a mother is a God-given privilege and blessing which comes with sacred responsibilities as echoed in (Genesis 4:1) when Eve states that “I have gotten a man from the Lord’ upon giving birth to her son Cain. The role of motherhood comes with joy (John 16:21) as the mother forgets her labor pains as soon as the child is delivered and is overwhelmed by the realization that a man is born through her into the world.
This implies that children are a blessing to behold for parents as well as the larger community. The Bible (Psalms 127:3) confirms this by stating that “children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is its reward.” Their arrival brings joy, jubilations and celebrations as they are ushered in to be part and parcel of the larger community.
However, children come with enormous responsibilities and demands to holistically nurture them physically, psychologically, socially and spiritually. The role of Christian mothers is multifaceted as can be depicted from biblical examples. God specifically created Eve (women) to physically conceive and bear children (Genesis 3:16) and endowed women with emotional predisposition to enable them easily connect with their children, facilitate their nurturance process as documented in the bible (Titus 2:4) that, mothers are to … love their children, be discrete, chaste, keepers at home…that the work of God may not be blasphemed.
Well, let’s turn the scripture to see some examples that give anchorage to this idea.
Hannah the mother of Samuel stands out as an outstanding example; Before she conceived she promised to dedicate her son Samuel to God ( 1 Samuel 1:11 ) the number one role of a mother is to put God first and seek to dedicate their lives to God and to seek His blessings in everything they intend to do. Godly and devoted mothers should mirror their perspective like Hannah, they should teach their children to be committed and obedient to God and live to serve Him in all their ways.
When a child is born, it’s a gift given to us from God and this Gift is an inheritance a privilege for us to behold and parents are held responsible for the child, physically, mentally and spiritually. When the child is born it associates most of its time with the mother and father and as it develops and forms it reflects their nature by listening to them, speaking to them, watching them and observing them and imbibing their mannerisms and so on. Unknown to the mother and father the child also tries out their body language also that’s why it’s very important for parents especially the mother should be with the child from the start of its formative years to its growth into childhood and adulthood.
But, ohhhh no !!! we are so caught up in this materialistic world that we don’t have time to bring up the child that God has entrusted to us; yes we just try to pass on this greater responsibility into others hand ….highlighting the need to earn more money for the upbringing of the very child. Knowing not the formative years are very important and that is the foundation on which the child will build upon.
Hannah made a commitment and kept it no matter what, she placed God first in little Samuel’s life. Samuel built his life upon this rock and His life stood the test of time.
Mothers should take it upon themselves to inculcate into the children the lifelong Christ like values during their formative years to reap better results in their prolonged life on this earth as observed in (Proverbs 22:6) Persons who are spiritually grounded in their formative years are apt to make right decisions about their life-values, faith and spirituality and all these affect their behavior throughout their lives.
Thus, the role of Christian mothers executed to children in their formative years is manifested not only in childhood but adulthood as well. The virtues earlier inculcated by mothers in childhood are applied in adulthood as people make appropriate personal choices regarding their spiritual lives and commitment to the Lord.
Mothers are the very instrument in doing this role as exemplified by Hannah, the mother of Samuel.
Another outstanding example from the New Testament; Eunice and Loise, the mother and grandmother of Timothy had tremendous influence in his life (II Timothy 1:5). It is recorded that his faith was established through his grandmother Loise and mother Eunice. Though Paul contributed to the conversion and spiritual maturity of Timothy, before Paul came into Timothy’s life, he was influenced by these two godly women right from his childhood (II Timothy 3:14-17). Thus, exercising faith in God and honoring His word, Christian mothers, committed to Christian parenting, can have great influence in the holistic development of their children through Christian training and modeling.
Children learn through observation and imitation of what their forebears say and do. Additionally, children learn through positive or negative reinforcement. For the Christian mothers to train their children spiritually in a sustainable manner, the mothers themselves must be spiritually mature and sincere in their faith (Luke 1: 27-3; II Timothy 1:5)
Women’s faith pre-dated their children’s faith. They deliberately sought to hand over their faith to their children because genuine faith is contagious. These children saw God in their mothers, were attracted to this God and they pursued after Him. These exemplary biblical mothers modelled God in their lives. The children observed and imitated the beliefs and practices of their mothers. Secondly, godly mothers honour God’s word and train their children to observe it (II Timothy 3:14- 17). As earlier alluded, parents are primary teachers of children. They are the ones who introduce the word of God to children. Later on, other spiritual mentors, such as Paul in the case of Timothy, may come in, but the initial foundation must be laid by parents, especially mothers, whose role is of paramount importance. Therefore, the best thing Christian mothers can do for their children is to inculcate in them the desire to treasure the word of God, right from their early ages.
Most mothers feel inadequate or ill-prepared to lay firm spiritual foundation in the lives of their children. This is because, they themselves were not well trained in spiritual matters and they are not spiritually grounded. In some cases, parents are too busy and unavailable to perform this sacred responsibility. Parents are hardly available for their children due to work related commitments that keep them away from home for long hours.
This notwithstanding, Christian mothers should try and find out which strategies work for them as they endeavor to promote spiritual growth of their children to enable them know, love and trust in God. These should to be deliberate and well calculated strategies that Christian mothers must invest quality time as mothers are still perceived to be emotionally connected and closer to their children, it is assumed that they take more time raising and nurturing their children while meeting their all-rounded needs on more regular routines than men do. Ultimately, it is hoped that all these activities undertaken by mothers go a long way to influence children’s development and ability to cope with dynamic physical, social-cultural and psychological demands of present and future lives.
Christian mothers must desire to grow their own love for Christ. Mothers cannot give what they do not have. The motivation for children to develop spiritually partly comes from the observations children make about their parents’ passion and love for God. Children must see evidence of Mothers’ love for God and His word exemplified through regular reading of the bible, consistent prayer life and living the Christian talk as they lead their children to the Lord.
Children need to be nurtured to know that God is love, holy, just, and seeks obedience from his people. Disobedience and rebelliousness towards God brings eternal punishment. Children need to understand that Jesus died on the cross as our substitute (Galatians 3:13). They also need to know that God forgives sins out of his kindness and mercy (I John 2:2). As Christian mothers train their children in God’s word, they need to know that every person is accountable before God (II Corinthians 5:10; Jeremiah 31:30 & Ezekiel 18:20).
The crucial task of Christian mothers is to pray for, train and lead their children to Christ using scriptures and their own lifestyles. Christian Mothers must train their children on how to live according to the word of God that separates right from wrong in relation to the greatest commandment (Mark 12: 30-31) that requires Christians to love God and well as man. Children need to see their mothers applying this commandment while teaching them to apply it in their own lives.
Finally, Christian faith is shaped within families, especially by godly mothers. Therefore, Christian mothers must do their part by rearing and training their children to be responsible men and women before God and man in their generation, community and nation. The role of Christian motherhood is much greater than that of successful statesmen, businessmen, artists or scientist in our modern societies. The approaches discussed above could be simplified by Christian mothers’ making themselves; available for their children (Deuteronomy 6:6-7), being involved with their children (Ephesians 6:4) and being ready to teach them (Psalms 78:5-6; Deuteronomy 4:10 & Ephesians 6:4). Similarly, Christian mothers must be ready to train their children to develop skills and discover their inner strengths (Proverbs 22:6) and their spiritual gifts (Romans 12:3-8; I Corinthians 12). Christian mothers also need to discipline their children to develop the fear of the Lord by consistently, living and firmly drawing the line between right and wrong (Proverbs 13:24; Proverbs 19:18 & Hebrew 12:5- 11). They must nurture their children by providing to them with supportive environment, where they are allowed to be children, can fail, but still be embraced and accepted, and be unconditionally loved (Titus 2:4; II Timothy 1:7; Ephesians 4: 29-32). Finally, Christian mothers need to model integrity by living Christ-like lives that children can observe and imitate (Deuteronomy 4:9, 15, 23; Proverbs 10: 9; 11:3; Psalms 37:18,37). Therefore, mothers have unique, on-going and unending responsibilities to nurture their children through progressive life stages as; toddlers, adolescents, teenagers, young adults, or even as adults with children of their own. Though motherhood roles may develop and change through these stages, their love, care, nurture and encouragement should never cease.
Thus to conclude Christian mothers have a major role of nurturing spiritual development of their children as exemplified by mothers in the old and new testaments.