A Nurturing Mother: She Spiritually Nurtures through the Teaching of the Scriptures
In what ways should a Christian mother nurture her children? In what areas should she apply diligent effort in caring for and encouraging her children to grow and develop? I thought of four: spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically. The specifics of how these are to be applied will vary from family to family and may even vary from child to child within a family. However, there are general principles that should be applied by a mother seeking God for wisdom on how to nurture her children. In this post I will address how a mother can nurture her children spiritually through the teaching of the Scriptures.
A godly mother will give diligent effort to the development of the spiritual life of her children. Her highest concern for them is their eternal state. This concern motivates her and makes her prioritize particular things.
First, as a mother tries to nurture her children spiritually, she will teach them the Scriptures. In 2 Timothy 3:14-15 Paul tells Timothy, “You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them; and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” Timothy’s mother and grandmother, Eunice and Lois, had been faithful to teach Timothy the Scriptures from his childhood. This is a wonderful example and exhortation to us as mothers to teach our children, while they are young, God’s Word. Remember, “faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). The Word of God has the power to transform the hearts of our children. When we neglect the teaching of the Scriptures to our children, we neglect the very thing that has the power to change their spirit eternally.
Teaching our children God’s Word is an act of faith. Sometimes we don’t always see the fruit that it bears in their lives. Sometimes it seems like the effort to rally children, and try and keep them focused, and the time it takes to read and explain the Scripture is just not worth it. We have probably all experienced the situation when you sit the children down to open the Word and they act the worst they’ve acted all day. They can’t sit still. They are looking everywhere and all around. Everything is suddenly far more interesting than listening to you read the Word. They fight about where to sit, or who can answer the question. All of these challenges can discourage us as we daily try to feed our children the manna of the Bible. And this is why it is an act of faith. We must believe that what God says about His Word is true. And as faithful followers of Christ, we must make diligent efforts to impart that Word to our children. We and our children have a heart problem, and so we must address it with the only thing that is able to transform our hearts and their hearts, the Word of God.
God says, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). This is a key, powerful text for us as mothers. The entirety of God’s Word, every book, chapter, and verse, all of the Scriptures are divinely inspired. These are the very words of God. We stand in awe of the fact that the God of the entire universe, who spoke all things into existence, has spoken to us. Look further at what this text tells us.
His Word is profitable. Profitable means that it is helpful and useful. What are the Scriptures helpful for? Teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. These are all things that a godly mother will be called to do for her children, and the Bible will help us, and more accurately, it must be our guide and manual as we seek to honor God in our parenting.
First, the Word is profitable for teaching. We must teach our children and give them instruction, and also give them warning about the danger of sin and Satan. The Bible should be our textbook as we seek to instruct our children in the wisdom of God. We believe the Scripture to be sufficient for everything we need to know for salvation, knowing God, trusting Him, being obedient to Him, and living a life of wisdom. The Scripture gives us all that is necessary to instruct our children on how to live a life pleasing to the Lord.
Next, the Scriptures are profitable for reproof. This means to convict or to prove one to be wrong. The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to show us how we have strayed from His holy ways. We need the Word of God to help us deny our ungodliness and worldly lusts and to help us live soberly. And our children need our help to teach them the truths of God’s Word, so that they too can turn from their wicked ways. They have been born spiritually dead, enemies of God. Even if they become believers while living in our home, they are still at war with the fleshly body and the desires of the flesh and they need every tool to help them fight the battle against sin and live a holy life unto God. And the weapon they need is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
Then, the Scriptures are profitable for correction, which is to set straight again. After the Word has shown us our erring ways, it then shows us the way in which we should walk. Just as reproof helps us and our children to put off the sinful deeds of the flesh, the correction of the Scripture helps us to put on the godly ways of our Lord. It teaches us the way in which we should walk. It instructs us on how to walk by the Spirit and thus not carry out the desire of the flesh. It gives us the chief example of Christ Himself and how He always did His Father’s will. The Word of God gives us numerous witnesses to the faithfulness of God and the faith of the saints. Our children need the Word to teach, reprove, and correct their ways, and God has called us as their mothers to teach these ways diligently to them.
Finally, the Scriptures are profitable for training, which includes instruction and implies chastening or discipline. And this is a discipline in righteousness. We are familiar with the text in Hebrews 12: 10-11, “For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” The Lord disciplines and trains His children for our good, so that we may share in His holiness and its fruit, the fruit of righteousness. The Word of God is one of the primary tools He uses in the life of His children to teach them in the way they should go, to produce His holiness in them, and to bear the fruit of righteousness. Isn’t this what we want in our children? Then let us faithfully bring the Scripture to our children and trust the Lord to do the work in their heart. R.C. Sproul, in Everyone’s a Theologian, says, “Rather than fleeing from the law of God, one who is diligent in the pursuit of righteousness and sanctification becomes a serious student of it.” Let’s be serious students of the Word, and then be serious teachers of it to our children.
Continuing in 2 Tim. 3:16-17, God uses His Word to make us and our children adequate and equipped for every good work. Adequate means to be complete, sufficient, completely qualified. Equipped means to furnish or fit completely. God equips His people for the good works that He has called and prepared beforehand for us (Eph 2:10). This adequacy and equipping does not come from within you, and no matter how talented your children are, they do not produce their own adequacy or equipping. We must have the Word of God to make us what we ought to be and supply us with the wisdom and strength to carry out what He has called us to.
As a mother, I cannot neglect the Scripture, either in my own life or in the lives of my children. This must be the top priority. We must come to the Word of God to know Him and to know His ways, and we need to instruct our children in His Word as well. Nothing else will have more eternal benefit for our children than to teach them the knowledge of the Holy One. It is God’s way. We must trust what He says. His Word is living and powerful and it accomplishes His purposes (Heb. 4:12; Is. 55:11).
My prayer for my children is that as I plant the seeds of God’s Word upon the soil of their heart,
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