Why did God create moms?

We are so accustomed to our created world, we sometimes forget to wonder why God created it as he did. With Mother’s Day this Sunday, it’s a good week to celebrate the moms in our lives.

But I want us to ask the question: Why did God create moms?

Mammals didn’t have to be formed inside a womb. God made some of his creation to be formed in eggs. Plants grow from the ground and God could have created people to do the same. God carefully designed a plan for the human race, and his design is worth considering today.

Adam was made from the dust.

When God made Adam, he chose to use the soil of the earth. Genesis 2:7 says, “Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” The name Adam means “one from the soil.” 

If the first man was created from the soil, why aren’t we?

Eve was created from Adam’s side.

When God created Eve, he chose a different plan. God had created a beautiful garden for Adam to live in, but even the perfection of the garden wasn’t enough. God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make a helper fit for him” (Genesis 2:18). God had created man in his image, and therefore, created Adam to love others.

Scripture says, “The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man” (Genesis 2:21–22). 

It’s interesting to realize that God gifted Adam with a deep sleep so he wouldn’t feel the pain caused by the creation of another life. In the beginning, it was the man who suffered pain during the birth of another human being. 

Adam named Eve.

When God brought the woman to Adam, the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Genesis 2:23). 

Eve was created by God, who chose to use Adam as an integral part of the process. Eve was “of him.” 

Genetically, every human being is born of God, Adam, and Eve. We were created in God’s image because of his love and created to have a relationship to God and to others.

Why did God create the marriage relationship?

This is a tricky subject for a blog post, but it’s so important to consider. God didn’t have to create people to create. God could have continued using soil to make men, and ribs of men to create women. God could have created a seed that once planted in the soil, grew to become a man, or a woman. God could have created people to be born as adults. Apparently, Adam and Eve were never small children.

God changed his plan for the creation of human beings after Adam and Eve. Why? When we pause to consider the vast quantity of sin in our world because people refuse God’s plan for the marriage relationship, it’s difficult to understand why God set it up this way. If God had simply continued to create humans as he created Adam and Eve, we would remove so much abuse, temptation, abortion, pornography, adultery, and many other heinous sins.

So, knowing all that would result from his plan, why did God create the marriage relationship?

Scripture often uses the phrase “he knew” to describe the sexual relationship. In Genesis 4:1 it says, “Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived.” The Hebrew word is yada, which means “to know, to have knowledge.” Some say this was just a “polite” way to speak of it, but I believe God intended every word of Scripture. I believe that phrase explains why God created the marriage relationship.

God created us in his image and God “is love” (1 John 4:8). Even Adam and Eve didn’t have a perfect relationship, but they “knew” one another in a way that was unique, close, and God-centered. I believe the marriage relationship, at its best, is the closest understanding we can have of the relationship that God wanted us to have with him. 

Our relationship to God was to be based on a unique love shared only with him. It was to be for fellowship, peace, safety, comfort, companionship, and enduring joy. God intended us to love our spouse with the love he has for us. That is why the marriage relationship is to be sacred, sanctified, and exclusive. 

Is it any wonder that Satan’s attacks have so often been in this area of life? Is it any wonder Satan has worked relentlessly to defile, re-define, and refocus the hearts of people to want something other than God’s plan for their marriage relationship? People are imperfect, and no relationship can belong to God unless both people submit to him—together.

Thankfully God loved us so much he gave us Jesus. Every relationship can be redeemed when both people are willing to allow God’s healing and direction in their lives.

Why did God create women to become moms?

After the Fall it became the women who suffered pain during the birth process. Sin changed God’s perfect plan that day, and our human lives have been imperfect ever since. 

But the glimpses of God’s perfect love remain. When women hold their newborn babies, the love is overwhelming. To create a life is to create a new love that is powerful and sacred. When I held my babies I remember thinking, “This is how God loves me.” And in a few weeks, I could re-run this blog post and just change the title to “Why did God create men to become dads?” 

God’s love for us created people to create. God wanted us to know we are loved with a great love by our Creator. Scripture says, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him” (1 John 3:1). 

If you are a mom or a dad . . .

Those of us with kids have the blessed knowledge of experiencing what it is to create a great and overwhelming love in our lives. Maybe that’s why God chose to call himself our Father and us his children. 

We know him, but as John said, “the world does not.” Relationships will never be perfect on this side of heaven, but we can improve all of them simply by understanding and dwelling in the love that God had for us as he designed and created us.

May we love our kids with the love God has given us. Happy Mother’s Day. (And . . . Happy Father’s Day—in advance.) 

 

The Mother’s Day message you won’t hear

The inbox on my computer is filled each morning with ads selling what “every mom wants.” Sunday is a big day for a lot of us. After all, where would we be without our moms? 

Preachers in every pulpit will bring up the point that we are commanded to love and honor our parents. I bet very few, if any, will bring up what Jesus taught his disciples in Matthew, chapter 10. In fact, most preachers would get in trouble this Sunday for quoting Jesus!

What is the Mother’s Day message you will probably never hear on Mother’s Day?

First, the setting . . .

Jesus was sending his disciples out to various places to share their message. He told them not to bring supplies or food and to simply go to the homes of fellow Jewish believers. Their mission was to tell their Jewish kinsmen that Jesus was their long-awaited Messiah. 

Matthew 10 contains verses we know but rarely live out. Jesus said, “And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town” (Matthew 10:13–14).

Afterward, Jesus warned them that they were going to encounter all types of persecution, even incarceration and abuse. He then gave them the key to their ministry, and these words remain the key for preaching, teaching, and evangelism today. Jesus said, “When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (Matthew 10:19–20). 

(A Mother’s Day parenthesis)

This is a Mother’s Day blog post, but I can’t let those verses get lost along the way! If you need to, please reread Matthew 10:19–20. Those verses changed my life and my ministry, and I want to share them with you today.

The biblical key to doing your ministry with the Lord’s strength and purpose is to know, with great confidence, this truth: “It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”

Our words might influence people, but when the Lord speaks through us, his words will transform people’s lives. Don’t worry about what to say, worry instead about how to get your own words out of the way and allow Jesus to speak through you. Okay…back to Mother’s Day.

Matthew 10, continued.

I will sum up the key points of Jesus’ instructions to his disciples:

  • Go share your message, and by the way, it’s going to be rough.
  • Expect persecution in almost every city.
  • Don’t worry about what to say, God will speak through you.
  • You will make people mad, including your families and friends.
  • Don’t be afraid that they might kill your body because they can’t kill your soul (I wonder if any of them mumbled, “that’s not all that comforting Jesus”).
  • Don’t forget that God has the hairs of your head numbered and values you more than you can imagine.
  • “I didn’t come to bring peace to the earth, but to bring a sword.”
  • I have come to turn one family member against another. 
  • Some of your greatest enemies will be in your own household.

Matthew 10 is not the typical Mother’s Day message but keep reading; we will get there!

And now . . . the verse that will never be found on a Hallmark card or Mother’s Day order of service.

After Jesus told his disciples all of that, he said, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37).

So much for the roses and reservations! So much for the 1001 gifts that every mom wants. But, don’t worry, there is a great truth in this teaching of Christ that could be the message you need this Mother’s Day.

Our culture has tended to make family more important than we should. Yes, I did just say that! 

God ordained and created the concept of family. We are commanded to honor our parents, and the Bible makes it clear that our obedience is key to maintaining a godly character and witness. Jesus wasn’t teaching his disciples that family isn’t important; he was teaching his disciples that family wasn’t most important.

If we honor anyone, including our family members, at a higher level than we honor God, we make that person an idol. We give them more power in our lives than we give God. We keep them from knowing their need to honor God as they should. Our highest priority with anyone, including our family, is to help them know and love Jesus so they can be worthy of his saving grace. If our family is an idol, we will place a stumbling block in their lives that could trip them up. Their eternal lives should be a higher priority to us than their lives on earth.

Moms need more than your love.

I hope Mother’s Day will be a great blessing for you and yours. I hope you make it to the buffet before they run out of shrimp. I hope the roses live past Thursday. I hope the perfume is your favorite, and the pajamas fit. 

Mostly I hope this Sunday will be a powerful day of worship as we honor Moms. For those of you who read this blog post, I hope you will remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 10 and allow them to change your worship this Sunday as you consider Jesus the One we are called to honor the most. We want to be worthy of Christ and we want to help others, especially our families, to know Jesus is the Messiah, our King. 

Happy Mother’s Day – may it be filled with the joy of the Lord.