Heavenly Love is Like Motherly Love Introduction If you ask ten thousand people who or what had the most positive influence on their religious faith, most of them would answer, "my mother." This is a according to the result of a recent poll of ten thousand people by the Search Institute of Minneapolis. Many of you could probably have guessed that. If you were to ask the people participating in your Sunday School class about the most important influence on their prayer life, most of the people would say, "my mother." This morning I would like for us to think about the "motherly love" that our “Heavenly Father” has for us. We often think of the Fatherhood of God because of things we find in the Gospels, like the phrase in the Lord's Prayer; "Our Father, who art in heaven..." and there is the parable of the Prodigal son, which tells the story of a father and two sons. We usually think of the father in that story as representing God and how God relates to us. But God also loves us with a mother's love...in fact, motherhood may be more descriptive of God's heavenly love than fatherhood. Mothers know what to say to help us through critical times in our lives; though sometimes they are unwittingly prophetic. I read a story of a bride that was very nervous. It was right before the service. She wasn��"t sure she could even walk down aisle. Her mother gave her some words of calming wisdom. She said to her. “Honey, there��"s only three things you need to focus on. If you focus on these three things, you��"ll be fine. The first is walking down the aisle. Just focus on walking down the aisle of the church. I know its rather long, but just concentrate on that. Don��"t get caught up with those on either side of the aisle. Just focus on getting to the end of the aisle. Next, focus on the altar. It is your destination today. Make your way down the aisle to the altar. There you will stand before God with the man you love and will make vows to God and him. God will also make vows to you. Focus on the altar that represents the love God has for you in Jesus Christ. Last, focus on the hymn that the soloist will sing. In poetry and song, the hymn embodies God��"s love for you in Christ, your love for your husband and his love for you. So, to help you not be so nervous, focus on those three things. Walking down the aisle, standing before the altar and listening to the hymn.”The bride was very thankful to her mom for her words of advice. The family and friends gathered watched as she walked down the aisle and noticed a look of calm determination on her face. But as she passed them, they began to chuckle quietly. For along with the look of calm determination, she was mumbling three words over and over to help calm her nerves. As she passed them, they heard her saying, “Aisle, Altar, Hymn… Aisle, Altar, Hymn… Aisle, Altar, Hymn.” (copied) This morning I would like for us to take a few minutes to compare heavenly love from the scripture that we read with a mother��"s love. I. Heavenly love provides us with nourishment. In the text is a statement about Christians as newborn babes who crave pure mother's milk...in this case representing the pure milk of the gospel. Just as a mother feeds the new baby milk from her own body; the text points out that God feeds us the milk of the gospel for our salvation. More than that, God has "fed" us his own Son. That's the meaning of the text, " you have tasted that the Lord is good.” This statement is thought to be a reference to Communion, to eating and drinking the symbols of the flesh and the blood of Jesus Christ....tasting the goodness of God. In ancient times in many of the early Christian churches a new convert received baptism and then there was a ceremony in which a cup of water, a cup of milk laced with honey, and a cup of wine were given to the new convert, one right after another. The water symbolized baptism. The milk and honey symbolized the nourishing power of the gospel to help the Christian grow and mature in faith. The wine symbolized the Lord's Supper. All three stood for the spiritual nourishment God offers all Christians. In baptism God receives us as new children. In baptism God becomes our mother in a special sense, nourishing our spirits and lives with the ancient baby formula of milk and honey by feeding our spirits that we might grow in the faith of Jesus Christ. Illus> John Newton, the Anglican clergyman who wrote the great hymn “Amazing Grace” once said: I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I want to be. I am not what I hope to be. But still, I am not what I used to be. And by the grace of God, I am what I am. - John Newton (sermoncentral Illustrations)