Cómo demostrar amor a nuestras madres

The Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. Therefore, go around the world teaching and preaching the gospel to every creature, to the last of the earth. En Contacto, the biblical teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Today on En Contacto, how to show love to our mothers. Do you love your mother? I ask you, does she know that you love her? What has she done for you to know? Has she told you? Has she hurt your mother's feelings? Do you truly love her? If someone were to ask you, why do you love your mother, what would you say? You would answer, well, because she is my mother. That is not a good answer. Many believe that they love their mothers, but that is not the case. They do not know how to do it. Many people are willing to do what is necessary to take care of their mothers. And I believe that the best example of this is Jesus Christ. Let us go to John chapter 19. What happens here is an incident, which is more than an incident. It is a beautiful example of the attitude that we should have towards our mothers. Perhaps someone will say, my mother has already gone to heaven. Mine too. You know what? It does not matter where your mother is, whether she is with you or has gone. We thank God if she is in heaven. We also thank God if she is here. I believe that many people really do not know how to treat their mothers.

And how many people have heard them say, ah, if I had, if I had realized, I would have done this and that for my mother, and I would not have done this and the other. Well, how to show love to your mothers? That is what I want to talk about in this message in John chapter 19. It is a good example. Here Christ had already been crucified. So let's look at verse 25, which says, And so the soldiers did. Then they were with the cross of Jesus, his mother, and the sister of his mother, Mary, wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene. Here I could refer to three women, or perhaps four, depending on the interpretation. When he saw Jesus, his mother, and the disciple whom he loved, who was present, he said to his mother, Woman, I am your son. Then he said to the disciple, I am your mother. And from that hour the disciple received her in his house. Now, perhaps we wonder, why didn't he call her mom or mother? Why did he call her woman? The true interpretation of that does not refer to any woman, but to a beloved woman. It was his way of saying what he wanted to say. But why didn't he say mother? Perhaps for two reasons. One of two, or perhaps both. One of them is that at that moment in his life,

nailed there on the cross, bleeding, dying, perhaps having one more hour of life, he wanted her to see him and look at him not only as his son, but as the Messiah. The Son of God. God sent him to do what he was doing. And perhaps he thought that if she saw him as the Messiah, not only his son, it would not be as painful as seeing his son Jesus. Because it is normal for her to think what any mother would think when she saw her son there. Perhaps she remembered when he was a baby, how he was born. She was a virgin when he was born, she carried him, fed him and saw him grow. Perhaps she remembered things that he had told her that she had not understood. And now he was there, nailed on a cross, the most painful thing that a mother can bear. He had been the perfect son. His brothers were not, the perfect son hung on a cross and I think that to alleviate part of the emotional pain that she felt, he said to her, Mom, I am the Messiah of God, remember that, even though I am your son, I am the Messiah.

And to express his love, he turned to her and said to her, looking at her, and speaking of John, and then to John, I am your mother. What did he mean by that? He meant, Mom, I love you very much, I will die, I will leave you, but I want to make sure that someone takes care of you for the rest of your life. Notice how he says it. When he saw Jesus, his mother, and the disciple whom he loved, who was John, the author of the gospel, because three times in the gospel it is described as the disciple whom Jesus loved, and when he saw Jesus, his mother, and the disciple whom he loved, who was present, he said to his mother, Woman, I am your son, I leave you in the hands of John. Then he said to the disciple, I am your mother, I want you to take care of my mother, I trust her in your hands. And from that moment on, the disciple received her at his house. We do not know exactly what happened to Maria after that. There are two ideas. One of them is that John took her to his house in Jerusalem, where she lived for about eleven years and then died. Then John began his ministry in the Gentiles. And the other idea is that John took her to Ephesus, where he became a pastor of the church, and she lived there for several years. Look at what I would have loved. I would have loved to be sitting at the table with the two of them and listen to the questions that perhaps John asked them. Tell me about Jesus when he was a child. Did he ever fall and get hurt? Did he ever cry? Did he ever get angry? Can you imagine the conversations that the two of them had during those years together? But let's see that Jesus Christ, about to die, is interested in his mother. That is the most beautiful expression that I know of love for a mother. So I would like to give you ten words that I will write down, only the words, so that we can think about how to show love to our mothers. First, we must love them verbally, that is, tell them that we love them. How often should I tell them? We should tell them every day. If possible, every day we must tell them that we love them. If my mother were here, I would talk to her daily and tell her every day that I love her. I think mothers need to hear that. And I have heard wives say, I would like my husband to tell me that he loves me.

If I ask him, he says, you know what, yes. I don't treat you with love. No, she wants to hear it. She needs to hear that you say, I love you. Mothers need to hear from their children, Mom, I love you. And not just once, but often. And also tell her why you love her. If I asked her today, does she love her mother or did she love her if she is no longer here? But why did she love her? If someone told her, I love you. Okay, but by telling her, I love you for this reason. You are affectionate, kind, tender, loving, considerate, attentive and generous with me. In other words, mothers need to hear why we love them. So first, love them verbally. Second, love them physically. What does that mean? Well, there are people who don't know how to love. For example, let's talk about a well-intentioned hug. Have you ever hugged someone and it seemed like you were hugging this table? A solid rock. In other words, there is nothing emotional in that hug. It is not reciprocal. Some people are like that, and I understand it. Maybe they say, my mother is a hard woman. Well, anyway, you have to love her. You have to love her physically. Mothers need to be hugged. Remember that the first person who touched her during the first few days of pregnancy, The first nine months of her life were spent with her mother. No one touched her for those nine months, only her mother.

And you know what? I think mothers deserve their children to show physical affection many times. We must hug them, not just give them a hand and that's it. I can't imagine going to their house and saying, Hello, Mom! It wouldn't be right for her or for me. Third, we must love them with patience. Why? They are not perfect. Mothers are not perfect. God didn't create them to be perfect. We must be patient with them. Sometimes they will say things that we may not necessarily appreciate. But if we reflect for a moment, I don't know of anyone who has a greater responsibility than that of mothers. Let's say she has two or three children, five or six, or however many, when she wakes up in the morning, imagine her work with the three or five children she has. Think of all her children. Think of what they will eat. Each one wants something different. Think of dressing them all. Each one wants to dress differently. I mean, let's consider all the things that mothers have to think about. In fact, we expect them to think about all the details and have the food ready. If she works away from home, we expect her to do everything before leaving.

Then she works eight hours and comes back, and then she has dinner. Who will prepare dinner for her? Many husbands don't do it, perhaps because they don't know how to cook. And second, because they think it's her job. Mothers have a great responsibility. We must be patient with them. Of course, we must also love them with gratitude. Does she love her mother with gratitude? Maybe she says, I think so. Well, she is the one who has given her life. If she loves her with gratitude, she will express it to her. She will look for ways to show her how grateful she is to her. How do I express my love and gratitude to her in a way that there is no doubt about it in her mind? Gratitude is external when expressing what we feel, but it is also internal because it expresses what we are. We are grateful or ungrateful. It is easy to recognize someone ungrateful, and I think about how many times we cried and our mothers were there. We were hurt and they were there. We went through difficult times and they were always there willing to listen to us. Maybe someone will say, are you talking about a mother I don't know? I understand. I know that some mothers grew up in difficult situations and they are like their own mothers,

that they didn't know how to treat them, they didn't know how to love them, but you know, you can change. The truth is that it doesn't matter what your mother is like, we still have the responsibility and the right to be grateful. She gave us life. And you know what? Nothing compares to it. Love them with gratitude. Love them with generosity. For example, what do we have that we may have to share with our mothers? How can we have so much and not want to share it with them? Love them generously. It's not just about Christmas gifts, but all the time. What can we do for them? Look, if we really love them, listen, we will pay attention to what they want or need, they will not tell us. Most of them wouldn't tell us, although I've met some who do, but most of them don't tell us, I need this, I want this. You know, devout mothers don't ask for anything and think, one day I will have enough money to buy this or that. But you know, if I love them, I will keep my ears open to know what they need, I will observe what they need. We must also love them with tenderness.

Because that's how our mothers love us. Let's think about this. Mothers go through adversity, they don't always feel competent, sometimes they need us to be considered sensitive to what they tell us and also to what they don't tell us. When I visited my mother, I knew what she would do as soon as she arrived. She would prepare a great dinner for me, in fact, she would even prepare the three meals if I was at home. But I couldn't do it. Sometimes I would go and we would sit down and share. The best moments, she was on that side and I was on this side, the table was small. She wanted to eat. I didn't want to talk. I knew I didn't need to be heard, I just wanted to talk. The most tender moments with my mother were not when I told her that I loved her, but when I listened to her tell me what she thought, things that had happened to her. What she often told me was, I don't understand why God took Charlie, he was my father who died when I was nine months old. I don't understand why he took him. I heard that many times and every time I did, as if it were the first time she told me, I answered, do you want to talk about that?

We had already talked about that many times, but you know what? Aren't there things in your life that we can't understand? How many times has someone talked about the same topic? Loving tenderly means being sensitive, not listening to what you have to say. Maybe I've said it a thousand times, maybe I won't even listen to what you're going to say, but I'll do it, I'll listen, and I'll do it attentively and carefully. And I'll do the following, something that anyone can do, is to encourage their mother, no matter what happens in their life, we can encourage them. We must also love them with our forgiveness. Now, there are people who see their mothers and blame them for certain things they have in their mind and heart. Perhaps what they say about their mothers is true. But I assure you that under no circumstances is there an excuse not to forgive their mother. We could read many biblical passages about this, but we wouldn't have enough time. But let's think about what Paul said about forgiveness. He says that we must love and forgive each other. He calls us to love others and to forgive them as God has forgiven us in Christ Jesus. When we think about mothers, what could be a mother that we wouldn't forgive? He says, honor your father and your mother

and live a long life on earth. Look how many times our mothers have forgiven us. Let's think about the following. We all grew up in different circumstances and situations in life. Some people have more difficulties than others. For example, I think of my mother who had to leave school in sixth grade after seeing her mother pass out when she took water out of a well. She never went back to school. She didn't receive much education. She only got to sixth grade. But you know what? It's amazing how wise she was in many matters. One of the wisest things she told me. And mothers can sow spiritual and biblical truths in the minds and hearts of their children. And even though she couldn't say, let's go to Ephesians chapter 4 or let's look for Genesis, she couldn't do it. But she told me what the Bible says. And there is something that I will never forget. One day she told me, remember, never do something that you wouldn't want to be doing when Christ comes. That was like a rope around your neck. But you know what? I'm 77 years old and I haven't forgotten it. Mothers can sow wonderful truths in their children. One of the things that my mother sowed in my heart was forgiveness, no matter what. Forgiveness, no matter what.

Christ said it. The apostle Paul said it. Forgiveness, no matter what. And maybe we need to ask our mothers for forgiveness. And after this message, if you haven't been the son or daughter that you should be, I hope you call your mother and tell her, you know what? Listen to a message that helps me see how much I love you and that I haven't expressed it properly or in a similar way. I've noticed that consecrated mothers are very grateful for even the smallest things. And we often don't value them. We must love them with dedication. Defend our mothers. When I hear that someone speaks negatively of their mother, that is something that causes me disgust. Simply because we must defend them, protect them and support them, whatever is necessary. Loving them with dedication is interesting. We should be interested in what she has, in the things she doesn't have, in knowing where she goes and her well-being. That is, we should be interested because they are well. If I dedicate myself to her, it occupies a place in my heart and in my life. We should also love her with joy. And maybe someone will say, well, I'll try to do it. Let me tell you something we should do. If there is something that hurts us deeply, let's think about it twice before telling it to her. That is, mothers want to hear about the good and the bad, that our pains don't happen, but it is good that we are happy with them.

Let's talk about the good and make them laugh and make them happy. I ask you something. If your mother has already left, can you visualize at this moment how she looked when she was happy? When she smiled or when she laughed about something? When she was happy about something? We must love them with joy. Embrace them. We must tell them how wonderful they are. Talk about the good things. And tell them everything we remember they did for us. When we had fun together. The mistakes we made together. And when we went through some difficulty and God helped us. Bringing wonderful memories to their minds is a gift for them. They love to think about those things, especially when they have aged. The last thing I would say is to love them with honor. How can I honor my mother? And I think this is what honors mothers the most. Grant them sons and daughters with consecrated lives to God. Give them obedient grandchildren to God. Let them be honored. What that says is, I dedicated my life to you, now you do it to your children. And now you invest that same life in your grandchildren. Then nothing honors mothers more than seeing that the influence of their life continues in the next generation. How do we dishonor them? By living in sin. By wasting life. I think of the mothers who see their children drunk. Call it what it is. Alcoholic, whatever. Drunk.

Or see them live immorally. Or see them live with indifference and neglect, wasting their lives. To hear them say vulgarities in the presence of their mothers. If we love them with honor. If we really want to honor them, we will begin to examine ourselves. How can I honor my mother? Being a consecrated child. Because she is a consecrated woman. If we unite all these points, they either give her honor or dishonor. I will ask her the same question I asked her at the beginning. Do you love your mother? How do you love her? When did she tell you? How did she express it? Does she need to go home? To apologize? Does she need to go and give her a good hug? In other words, in the light of what you just heard, what should she do to show her love for her mother? The truth is that every day should be Mother's Day. There is no day when we should not treat them as we have described in these ten points. Perhaps you have not yet accepted Christ as your Savior. Maybe you are a mother and have said, I am not a Christian. How can I instruct spiritual values in your children? You can not. Until Christ comes to your life. Maybe you are a father and think, I have a lot of homework to do. I must express to my wife, the mother of my children, how grateful I am to God for her and what she is. Only you know what to say, but I trust you to be wise.

Look, if it is too proud to say, I'm sorry. If it is too proud to say, forgive me. If it is too proud to say, I have not done what I should have done. Then you have a big problem. How many times has God forgiven you? Many times. I want to encourage you to be the man and the husband you should be for your wife, the mother of your children, What kind of son should he be for his mother, whether he is a son or a daughter, young or old? If his mother lives, express to her what you want her to know about your love for her. Amen? Father, how grateful we are for those who have brought us into the world and given us so much. I ask that the Holy Spirit engrave these words in our hearts, not only for our mothers, but for the mother of our children. May we be an example for our children to grow up loving their mothers. May our grandchildren love their mothers. May we be an example in this impoverished world of how merciful people love each other. In the name of Jesus, amen. Amen.