The Pursuit of Earthly Roles

      By Fern Horst

"And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it." (Luke 11:27-28)

We have just recently observed Mother's Day in the United States and in many other countries, also. This is a day that we honor the women who gave birth to us and nurtured us as we grew to adulthood. Motherhood has always been an honorable role, and it should be. Sadly, many have also attempted to attack the validity of motherhood as a full-time endeavor, and many children have suffered as a result. Churches and ministries and organizations have taken up the battle to defend motherhood as valid and honorable.

Interestingly, though, Jesus didn't address the honor or validity of the role of motherhood or fatherhood or of any other earthly role. When a woman declared his mother was blessed because she had given birth to Him, Jesus took the opportunity to teach a higher and broader perspective. The role in which we live our lives is not what is important, rather, that we hear God's Word and obey. Then will we be blessed indeed, no matter what role in life we fill, nor how important or unimportant that role may be perceived by others.

So often we get caught up with pursuing or defending a certain role that people fill here on earth, and we lose sight of Christ's first and foremost calling on our lives: to bring glory to Him by knowing and doing His will. I am making a renewed commitment to focus on my Lord's number one calling for me, which has nothing to do with what role I fill here or how others perceive it, but rather with whether I know His Word, and keep it.

One hundred years from now it will not matter if I was a mother or a wife or an aunt or a successful webmistress or writer. What will be vitally important is that I lived my life in faithfulness and obedience to the Lord and His Word, in whatever roles I found myself in. When we do this, we can be sure that we will be blessed indeed - not just for the present moment, but for eternity.

© 2001 Fern Horst

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