I love reading the biographies of missionaries and my faith is always bolstered as a result. Last year I thoroughly enjoyed reading the life stories of Elisabeth Elliot, Amy Carmichael and Hudson Taylor (both alone and with my children). This week I am re-reading ‘Amazing Grace’, the biography of William Wilberforce. I am so thankful for the witness and example of these extraordinary men and women.
Nevertheless, most of us mothers are called to lead more ordinary lives. We are not surrounded by fireworks and mass conversions and it can be easy to start thinking that our quiet, ordinary work within four, ordinary walls is not having much of an effect. Might the Lord use us more powerfully if we abandoned our homes and worked for him in a different context?
We need to call to mind the fact that our most important evangelism actually takes place within our homes. Mothers let us hold our nerve and not be shaken by the unspoken belief today that we are only in obedience to the Great Commission if our witnessing takes place outside of the home, whether that be in the workplace, on the streets, in church groups or among unbelieving friends. If we love God and are reconciled to him, we are light. If we are light, then this light does not switch on once we cross the doorstep to go outside and switch back off on our return.
It is so easy to have a blind spot about the importance of our witness to our own children. As I reflect on this, I think it is due to a failure to grasp three truths:
1. God Places Unconverted Children in Our Families.
At some point (we do not know when) our children become accountable before God for the state of their souls. The truth is that many young children who have Christian parents and who go to church regularly will say that they are Christians. Perhaps this is genuine; perhaps they identify as Christians because they know this will please the adults in their lives. My point is that as parents we can be too quick to think that the ‘job is done’ and to forget to look for the fruit of conversion. It is all too easy to leave our children to the crumbs of our tiredness at the end of the day and to forget to devote our best hours to instructing them in the Lord.
2. The Life of a Believer Influences Those Whom They Are With.
Many of us have been praying for friends and family members over the course of years and perhaps we have not noticed big changes in their lives. In God’s purposes the appearance of fruit has been slow. However, we can wrongly believe this is because our lives are not effective in influencing others or that our prayers are not ‘spiritual’ enough. Perhaps we see the sins in our children and conclude that the task is too great, and our faith is too small. John Chrysostom, an early church father has strong words for those Christians who believe they cannot influence others: ‘It is easier for the sun not to shine than for a Christian not to do so. It is easier for light itself to be darkness than for a Christian not to give light. So, don’t tell me it is impossible for you as a Christian to influence others, when it is the opposite which is impossible.’ If we sincerely love the lord and if we spend large amounts of time with our children, it is impossible for them to be unaffected by our witness.
3. We Must Pray With David, ‘Unite my heart to fear your name’ (Psalm 86:11).
David, a man after God’s own heart, recognised the inconsistencies between his faith and his actions. Perhaps we think our witness to our children is ineffective because we see the shortcomings in our own lives and how they do not measure up to the faith we profess. On the one hand we do need to continually pray to God that he will unite our hearts to fear him, that our lives will match his calling. On the other hand, let us not stop teaching our children about God until we attain perfection since we have no hope of that this side of the gates of splendour. If we acknowledge that our little ones need salvation and if we recognize that believers cannot help influencing those they are with, then it is difficult to make a case that children are better off away from the presence of believing mothers (or perhaps away from believing teachers in a truly Christian school) in their formative years.
Mothers who have accepted the high calling to care for your own children, I just want to encourage you that your labour is of great value in God’s sight. We might have great days and not-so-great days, but we can be confident that those with whom we spend our greatest amount of time cannot be unaffected by the light of Christ that shines within us…even when we might be starting to flag.
