As I read or listen to Scripture, I am often on the lookout for passages that speak encouragement to mothers. Recently this collection of verses from Philippians 2 jumped out at me. You know that classic verse us mothers love to speak over our children: do everything without complaining or arguing? Well, I was convicted that the very same principle applies to the mother, too!
Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to His good purpose. Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world, by holding firm to the word of life. Then I can boast in the day of Christ that I didn’t run or labor for nothing. But even if I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrificial service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.
Philippians 2:12-17
Paul starts off his admonishment with an assumption of obedience, whether he is with the Philippian believers or absent. The outcome of their obedience is a working out of their salvation, “timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ” (AMPC). Welcome to another conundrum of the faith: while they are working it out, God is actually the One working in them for His own pleasure and glory. Yes, the work is them; yes, the work is Him. Dear mom, are we actively obeying? Actively working out our salvation in the fear of the Lord while simultaneously relying on God’s power to do the work in us and through us?
Those who follow Jesus should be marked as those who do nothing with grumbling or arguing or complaining. Believers are to be blameless, above reproach, conducting themselves as very children of God, holding tight to the Truth. Even though we live “in the midst of a crooked and wicked generation,” we are to be “seen as bright lights (stars or beacons shining out clearly) in the dark world” (AMPC). Dear mom, as much as this is a helpful verse for our children, do we hold ourselves to the same standard? Are we folding clothes, doing the repetitive work of training our children in godliness, cooking dinner yet again, mopping the bathroom floor, and stopping another sibling fight without complaining? Do our children see us holding out to them the truth of Jesus? Are we showing ourselves to be blameless and pure as a mother?
In the end it will all be worth it. The apostle Paul is confident his labor on the Phillipian’s behalf will produce something worth boasting about. He is being depleted, constantly emptying himself out, yet Paul is overjoyed with this privilege, believing it will produce a harvest of faith. Dear mom, our labor and sacrificial living on behalf of our children is not in vain! Oh that we would daily serve the little ones in our care trusting we will reap hundredfold in children who wholeheartedly serve and follow God. In that day we will rejoice beyond measure!
“Consider it a great joy, my sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance” (James 1:2). This is our joy: that our endurance may produce a harvest of souls from within our very own homes. Oh God, may You work in us to will and to act “according to Your power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20)!
