How God is Robbed of Glory

By: Ellsworth E. McIntyre

In the church of my youth, it was customary to end long, monotonous, repetitive prayers by saying, "And we will be sure, Lord, to give you the glory." Giving God the glory is not as simple as it seems. When it comes to glory robbing, all men are natural born thieves, as this article will illustrate.

Just to prove my Celtic taste for valor in the face of certain defeat, let me choose one of the most impregnable fortresses of glory robbing shrines ever erected by sin-crazed mankind Mother's Day! Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you. I am saying, Mother's Day is designed to rob God of glory due his name. Ask yourself this question, "Is your mother better than ordinary mothers, or are all mothers equally deserving of honor?" How about the virgin mother of Christ? Is Maryyour everyday garden variety woman? Of course not. To say all women are equal is to rob Mary, your mother, and other lesser but God-fearing women their just due. Pretty hard to weasel out of that one, isn't it? All men, all women, and all of mankind must be evaluated on the basis of God's law-word. Some are saints; others are not. How can we give God his due glory if we value all mothers alike? By placing no conditions on our praise of motherhood, are we not destroying God's standard of a good woman?

Now that I have you on my side, I hope, let me paint you the picture of what the most wicked of all mothers looks like. She is the mother who always supports her son, right or wrong, even when he breaks the commandments. Her love is strictly non- discriminatory. She screams, "Keep your hands off my son. He didn't do it. He's innocent. He's a good boy," right up to the door of the gas chamber. She will never say, "My son's a bad boy." She is faithful to no standard except for her perverted and misplaced affection. No school teacher, no policeman, not even the boy's father is able to get her to side with authority against her son.She will be shocked to learn one sad day that her unconditional love has smeared her son's blood on her hands with a stain that can never be washed away. Granted her brand of love is popular and politically correct and fools may honor her equally with God-fearing women on Mother's Day, but mark it down, God will not! TheGodly woman, on the other hand, has the love that washes whiter than snow.

Let me tell a story of a Godly mother I shall never forget. I looked up from my principal's desk one day more than twenty years ago. One of the school's elementary teachers stood before me with her face bathed in tears.Between sobs, she gasped out the story that her five-year-old daughter had been caught stealing some coins from her teacher's desk. The mother said, "Mr. McIntyre, I want you to paddle my child."

I protested that her husband, who was also on our faculty, should be allowed to paddle the child. She shook her head violently and yelled, "No!My husband is too soft to do the job, and don't tempt me to let my daughter off. I had a problem stealing when I was a child, and I am terrified that unless I nip this in the bud, my child may become a habitual thief."

I reluctantly agreed to do my duty. On the long walk to the teachers' lounge, the mother begged me repeatedly to not think she didn't love her daughter, but she just couldn't allow her child to become a thief. When I saw the child, I could understand her husband's problems.   The girl was a poster perfect, blue-eyed, blonde with an easy smile and a poised behavior for someone caught red handed stealing.

With the mother standing by, I made the child admit her guilt. Before I could suggest asking God for forgiveness, the child volunteered it. Not bad, I thought, and I looked to her mother to see if clemency might be a possibility. The mother glared back at me, an obvious No! The paddling really startled the little blonde, her easy smile vanished and her beautiful eyes bulged out in disbelief. The child looked like she had just learned that the price of sin can't be paid by the charm of a pretty face.

I also learned a lesson. I had witnessed the difference between the perverted love of ordinary women and the genuine love of a mother walking with God. Such a woman is very rare and her God deserves to be honored.

Our God deserves to be praised on Mother's Day for the mothers He has blessed.

We need to be forgiven for robbing God of His glory by a holiday that tends to honor all mothers alike. Our task of reconstruction in America then should be to celebrate Mother's Day by teaching our boys and girls to give honor on the basis of God's law-word and to withhold honor on the same basis.