First, for anyone who may not have realized that tomorrow is Mother’s Day, this is your friendly reminder, and of course, “You’re welcome.” Mother’s Day is upon us, so prepared or not, it’s time to pause and focus our attention and affection toward our mothers, one of the most basic and personal of all human relationships. Having a day when the entire nation is called to give special recognition and to express our love and appreciation for and toward our mothers is a good thing, even if it does involve a few sacrifices on our part. Pulling away from our normal routines and temporarily ignoring the digital devices frantically beeping for our attention is worth whatever effort it takes. Honoring mothers and motherhood in general can have more potential impact than we might think, especially this year. 

Panic Attacks ~
As we all know all too well by now, the draft Supreme Court opinion regarding Roe v. Wade created a universal panic attack among avowed pro-abortionists, and the result has been predictable. Because of that, mom’s special day for 2022 will dawn on a nation where loud angry mobs led by trained social and political agitators are bringing their tantrums to the streets of every major city. In addition to the chaos going on outside, the mobs’ academic, political, and media accomplices are busy filling the airwaves with impassioned demands that women’s rights be protected. The term, of course, has a limited definition in this case. The “right” demanded here refers exclusively to a woman’s freedom to ensure that no unwanted and/or inconvenient baby growing in her womb will allowed to continue to live. 

As an aside, watching it all unfold, one has to wonder how so many sign-waving, slogan-chanting, obscenity-screaming products of “higher education” ever manage to graduate, given that their capacity to reason is so obviously questionable. For instance, they rave on and on about women’s health, women’s bodies, and a woman’s right to choose, yet in spite of their air of intellectual and moral superiority, they find it impossible to simply define what a woman is. It’s downright paradoxical. And since they have no clue what to call someone who comes into the world biologically equipped to conceive and bear children, they are left with no way to explain what a mother is either, much less what it means to be one. 

A Temporary Respite ~
The conflicts revolving around these basic issues and the resultant discord are being felt by all of us in one way or another, and the indications are that more will come. But while tomorrow offers an opportunity for a brief respite from the craziness and an opportunity to highlight and honor God’s design for women, mothers, and the families they represent,  there’s another perspective worth contemplating. It’s woven into a comment the Apostle Paul made to his beloved protégé, Timothy. There’s another living gift of God that the devil would love to target for abortion. Here’s what Paul had to say:

… I remember you in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy, when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:3–7) NKJV

Obviously, faith is a subject whose implications and applications will never be totally exhausted in this life, but there’s one aspect of it that seems particularly relevant as people wonder what to believe and how to respond to the upheaval convulsing this nation regarding abortion. Paul’s choice of words is interesting. He refers to faith in a way that we might not be prone to think of it, but that we would do well to consider. 

More than a Symbol ~
Paul first described Timothy’s faith as genuine. Whatever its other characteristics were, it wasn’t phony, hypocritical, or pretentious. It was honest and real, but there was another compelling quality about it. Timothy’s faith was not just a word on his doctrinal statement. It wasn’t a sanctified religious garment or a symbol on some piece of jewelry. Faith was a living part of him. It was as much an integral part of him as his internal organs, and Paul pointed out that it lived in others before it was reproduced in him. If faith is allowed to live in us, like all life, it seeks to reproduce.

A comment I’ve often heard from one of my all-time favorite Bible teachers is that from God’s point of view, faith isn’t ‘just’ a noun. It’s a ‘verb’. Like life itself, faith moves. If it isn’t moving, if it isn’t finding active expression, if it never rises up to do anything, then there’s a strong possibility that it’s lifeless. There was something vibrant and vital and living in Timothy’s grandmother that eventually found its way into his mother, and that same force in her eventually came to life in him. 

Arrested Development ~
What if someone interfered with that “faithing”? What if it had been attacked when it was weak and vulnerable and had been aborted in the process of development? What if faith in God was considered too inconvenient? What if the one in whom it began to grow decided that it would cost too much if allowed to fully develop? Suppose the one in whom it had been planted saw it as a threat to a lifestyle they’d rather not give up. 

Motherhood is about birth and bringing life into the world. This Mother’s Day, there’s a spotlight on the question of whether many lives should not be allowed to continue. At the same time, the spiraling decline in the number and influence of the Church causes us to wonder if faith is another life being aborted because it’s too inconvenient, too costly, too intrusive. When faith is allowed to grow and thrive, life flourishes. When faith dies, death always wins.

So, don’t we need to celebrate mothers tomorrow – and not just mothers, but everyone in that role – foster moms, adoptive moms, stand-in moms, grandmothers, and great grandmothers? And we also need to celebrate and encourage marriage and God’s design for families. But there’s more that we can do. If we’re going to celebrate life, then we need to celebrate the kind of faith that lives. If faith is a verb, then what’s ours actually doing? How are we “faithing”? If our faith is living in us, how is it moving? Are we helping to protect  the vulnerable new faith in someone else, or are we content to stand by and allow the devil’s spiritual abortion tactics to snuff it out before it’s fully formed? 

May God bless tomorrow’s Mother’s Day celebrations and grant us times of loving fellowship with those whose moms are still with them, and sweet memories for those whose mothers have gone on. And may He bless us all with an outpouring of living faith in Jesus Christ that will rise up with more power than we’ve ever seen and spread new life across our land. 

🌹  HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY 2022!  🌹

“TWEETABLES” ~ Click to tweet and share from the pull quotes below.  Each one links directly back to this article through Twitter . . .

• • “Faith isn’t ‘just’ a noun. It’s also a ‘verb’.  Like life itself, faith moves. If it isn’t moving, if it isn’t finding active expression, if it never rises up to do anything, then there’s a strong possibility that it’s lifeless.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
  • “The decline in the number & influence of the Church causes us to wonder if faith is another life being aborted because it’s too inconvenient, costly, and intrusive. When faith grows and thrives, life flourishes. When it dies, death always wins.”@GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)  
  • “If we’re going to celebrate life, then we need to celebrate the kind of faith that lives. If faith is a verb, then what’s ours actually doing? How are we “faithing”? If our faith is living in us, how is it moving?” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
  • “If our faith is living in us, how is it moving? Are we helping to protect  the vulnerable new faith in someone else, or are we content to stand by and allow the devil’s spiritual abortion tactics to snuff it out before it’s fully formed?” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet) 

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