Photo Credit: KaylaJoy Photography
Mama, I don’t know if you realize this or not, but you are in the ministry.
No, you may not be a minister’s wife. You may not be a Sunday school teacher. You may not be the one making hospital visits to the saints; you may not even be a praise team member. But as a mother with children at home, you are in the ministry —
Because ministry is serving — like the serving you do when you’re wiping noses and spending evenings in the kitchen and chauffeuring kids around.
And ministry is pulling souls from the fire — like you do when you raise your children up for God. Ministry is what you do when you exemplify a Spirit-filled lifestyle for your children, and teach them about the Bible, and take them to church.
As a mother, your children are your ministry.
And there is no ministry you could be involved in, no company you could be CEO of, no prestigious position you could hold or degree you could have that’s more important than your ministry to your children.
You have the CRUCIAL job of teaching your children about God – because the more they know about Him, the easier it will be for them to fall in love with Him.
There are women in this world who long for power and influence. But you know what, Mama? No woman in this world has more power and influence than you do when you fear God, pray, and live by His Word. Your influence is huge; it’s powerful; it’s eternal.
As a minister in your home, you must lead by example. Be intentional about teaching your children about God. Children’s church and Sunday school are wonderful — but they can only supplement what your child is being taught at home.
Think about it: Would you ever feed your children a diet solely of potato chips, cotton candy, and french fries . . . and then give them a really great weekly multivitamin, figuring the vitamin should counteract all the negative aspects of their diet?
Yet that’s what we do when we leave all of a child’s spiritual training to Sunday morning Sunday school.
We can’t blame a child’s poor spiritual condition on the pastor, the church, the youth pastor, the Sunday school teacher, or anybody else. Mama, if a child’s going to thrive spiritually, he needs solid spiritual training at home.
As mamas, we must develop such a deep love for God that we hold His law and His Word close to our hearts every day of our lives. Then, training up the next generation for God will come as a natural output of our day-to-day living.
Deuteronomy 6:6-7 says: “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”
Mama, you’re a minister of your home. It’s your job to teach that Word from morning to sundown. When you’re taking a walk around the neighborhood. When you’re driving the kids to school. When you’re cooking in the kitchen. When you tuck your children into bed, and when they wake up in the morning.
Morning-to-sundown teaching doesn’t mean that you’re preaching at your children all the time. . . . It means that your lifestyle teaches your children all the time. It means your kids can see the Word alive in your words and choices and actions — in the way you treat neighbors, and your husband, and your children themselves.
Ask yourself, Mama: Have my children only heard about God from me? Or have they actually seen Him at work in my life?
Mama, your responsibility is heavy, but it’s also rewarding. Your ministry involves the weaving together of the very fabric of our society. It’s the painstaking process of crafting together the very heart of the future church. You have a huge job, the most important of ministries!
Never never never never lose sight of your influence and your worth.