Never Hurt Your Mommy
Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz in Haifa, Israel), known as the over-the-top, theatrical front man for the world famous, hard rock band KISS, never indulged in drug or alcohol use. That's an amazing revelation, given the party hardy rock-n-roll culture.
But Gene had an interesting motivation for staying on the straight and narrow. His mother, Flora, lived through the Holocaust and survived the horrors of the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria.
The Jerusalem Post reports, “I’m her only child,” ... “I knew I had no right to hurt my mother. Life had already done enough to her.”
They go on to site a fuller quote from a famous internet meme of Simmons describing his first major interview with Rolling Stone in the 1970s, saying:
“When I met the Rolling Stone writer, I was very careful to cultivate the mystique of the demon. I wore all my spider and silver jewelry and my leather pants. I puffed my hair as big as it could go. With my seven-inch platform boots with silver dollar signs on them and black nail polish, I thought I was ready to project the perfect rock-and-roll image.
"Then, at one point, the doorbell rang. I answered it, and there was my mother at the door with enough food to feed the world: fresh soups, veal chops, pancakes, jams, and cakes.
"She insisted that the writer and I – whom she referred to as 'hungry boys' – stop what we were doing and eat. She kept calling me by my Hebrew name, Chaim, and told the writer that I was a good boy. The big, bad demon was just a mama’s boy.”
The meme shows a towering, fully decked-out Simmons standing with his tiny, elderly mother.
Photo Credit/Attribution Unknown
Simmons' love, concern, compassion, and HONOR of his mama is truly admirable. And using that as motivation to be sure he never "does her wrong" is as good as any motivation one might come up with. Yet, should we really need anything so harrowing, so horrific to prompt us to always want to bring only honor to our parents? Shouldn't we all strive to do so just because it's the right thing to do?
“Honor your father and mother"—which is the first commandment with a promise—“so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth” (Ephesians 6:2-3, NIV).
Ten Commandments for Tots
In teaching the kids the ten commandments I looked for an easy way for them to be memorized. When it came to the 5th commandment, "Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged ...." We taught it, "Love Mom and Dad, and you'll live longer!" Alana, about 5 years old, recently learned her 5th commandment and while out with Mom saw a 2-4 year old girl in the store throw a temper tantrum. Alana tugs on her mom's sleeve, pointing out the little girl and says, "She isn't going to live very long!"
Find a creative way to teach God's commandments to your children and they will take them everywhere they go.
"Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it" (Proverbs 22:6).
Stop In The Name of Law
When the horseless carriage was first introduced, there were no traffic signs or speed limits. Why do we have them now? Because of dented fenders and fatal accidents, all of which occurred because people are, by nature, selfish and unloving.
Away from the regimented life of the city, in rural areas, there are many intersections without stop signs. It is legal to go through the intersection without coming to a stop. The "law" that governs such intersections is that the person on the left must yield to the driver on the right.
Out in rural Idaho where I live, I'm amazed at how many people drive these back country gravel roads at 50 mph, going through numerous four way intersections without slowing down or looking. They assume no one is coming. One of these days, it is bound to happen though, and its going to be messy.
Within the first month of my first pastorate in a little town of 550, a County Sheriff pulled me over on downtown Main Street. Why? I had just failed to come to a complete stop at one of a few stop signs in town. I deserved a ticket, but was let off with a warning. Likely the officer knew the resulting scuttlebutt around town would be punishment enough, and it was.
Before the Law was given in writing, sin was in the world. The Law was "added because of transgressions" (Galatians 3:19) with a view to help protect lives and preserve relationships, but it was "weak through the flesh." It made nothing perfect. It is necessary, like stop signs at intersections, but results in our condemnation because it does nothing to change our selfish nature.
At various times in life, all the Christians I know roll through one of God's stop signs on occasion. It would be better to come to a full stop. It would save us some embarrassment. Yet above all, our aim is not the keeping of a written law, but to be abide in Christ and be adorned with the fruit of the Spirit, "against such there is no law" (Galatians 5:22-23).
If everyone lived in the fullness of the love of God, every stop sign and speed limit sign could be removed. What a world that would be!