Multitasking Mothers
Multitasking is an phantasm for me. I can solely totally have interaction one factor at a time. In terms of my 5 youngsters, if multiple tries to speak to me on the identical time (which they generally do), the result’s that I can’t distinguish what one individual says from the opposite.
It’s taken awhile, however when that occurs, I’ve lastly realized to ask everybody to be quiet. “I wish to hear what every of you has to say, however proper now I can’t perceive any of you.” Then, pointing, “You first, you subsequent, and then you definately.” They’re starting to catch on.
Mothers, God designed us to be one-thing girls, and there’s one specific factor he needs us to give attention to. Are you curious what that’s? We’ll get to it, however earlier than we do, we have to perceive one thing about God.
God Is Jealous
After bringing the Israelites out of Egypt, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. The second commandment is, “You shall not make for your self a carved picture, or any likeness of something that’s in heaven above, or that’s within the earth beneath, or that’s within the water beneath the earth. You shall not bow all the way down to them or serve them” (Ex. 20:4–5). Why not? “. . . for I the Lord your God am a jealous God” (Ex. 20:5b). Later, God reminds Moses that “the Lord, whose identify is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Ex. 34:14).
God is jealous. It’s even one in every of his names. And in Scripture, God’s identify is intently related along with his character. The issue for mothers such as you and me is that we’re used to considering of jealousy as a vice. A no-no. It’s what a baby would possibly really feel when his good friend will get a brand new toy, an older sister will get to remain up late, or the newborn will get additional consideration. And that doesn’t match with what we find out about God.
By means of private tales and biblical reflections, Katie Faris walks with girls, serving to them ponder God’s unchanging character and see how his functions are at work, even within the on a regular basis moments of motherhood.
However God’s jealousy is holy, extra akin to what a loving husband feels for his bride. God loves his individuals, and there’s no room within the relationship for idols of any type. Moses warns the Israelites, “For the Lord your God is a consuming hearth, a jealous God” (Deut. 4:24), and within the New Testomony, James reinds Christians that God “yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us” (James 4:5).
God is jealous not only for us however for his spirit in us. God is jealous for himself, and he has each proper to be. Theologian Stephen J. Wellum explains, “His identify, honor, and glory are at the start and, for creatures, the chief finish to pursue,”1 and J. I. Packer provides, “God seeks what we should always search—His glory, in and thru males—and it’s for the securing of this finish, finally, that he’s jealous.”2
We see this holy jealousy within the Prophets: “I’m the Lord; that’s my identify; / my glory I give to no different, / nor my reward to carved idols” (Isa. 42:8). “My glory I can’t give to a different” (Isa. 48:11). “And I’ll set my glory among the many nations, . . . and I will likely be jealous for my holy identify” (Ezek. 39:21, 25).
God loves his individuals, and there’s no room within the relationship for idols of any type.
Finally, God is jealous for his personal glory. “God’s glory isn’t actually an attribute of God. Slightly, it’s a approach of capturing God’s magnificence, marvel, perfection, and blessedness,”3 and we encountered it beforehand once we mirrored on his majesty and holiness. “A technical time period for God’s manifest presence along with his covenant individuals”4 within the Outdated Testomony, God’s glory is current in Jesus within the New Testomony (see John 1:14).
As God is jealous for his glory, we must be zealous for it. That is the one factor God needs us to give attention to, to maintain in view as we go about our day. When life will get busy and loud, we are able to pause and ask, “Am I approaching motherhood for God’s glory? Am I a one-thing mother?”
Bishop J. C. Ryle wrote a traditional description of zeal for God. Making use of it to a Christian mother, “[She] solely sees one factor, [she] cares for one factor, [she] lives for one factor, [she] is swallowed up in a single factor; and that one factor is to please God. . . . [She] burns for one factor; and that one factor is to please God, and to advance God’s glory.”5
Might this description be true of you and me.
Notes:
- Stephen J. Wellum, Systematic Theology (Brentwood, TN: B&H Educational, 2024), 650.
- J. I. Packer, Realizing God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1978), 155–56.
- Wellum, Systematic Theology, 665.
- ESV Examine Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008), notice on Isa. 6:3.
- J. C. Ryle, Sensible Faith (1959), 130, as cited by Packer in Realizing God, 157.
This text is tailored from Every Hour I Need You: 30 Meditations for Moms on the Character of God by Katie Faris.
Associated Articles
Attributes of God That Moms Are Not Called to Emulate
We’re not supermoms, and we have been by no means meant to be. By God’s good design, we’re dependent creatures, and we glance to the Lord for “life and breath and the whole lot” (Acts 17:25).
I’ve Heard It Said That Motherhood Is a Woman’s Highest Calling
Motherhood is so good. Motherhood was designed by God, and it’s present from above. However, at the start, we’re youngsters of God.
Parents, Your Children Were Never Intended to Give You Identity
If you’re not resting in your vertical id, you’ll look horizontally, looking out to seek out your self and your purpose for dwelling in one thing within the creation
Podcast: The Unexpected Sorrows of Motherhood (Katie Faris)
Katie Faris talks concerning the love, pleasure, and heartache of motherhood and the way mothers can expertise God’s consolation and style within the midst of all of it.
