Motherhood and the Implications of the Work Christ Has Finished

No matter what age you come to motherhood you probably want to nail this assignment.

You want to love your children and speak kindly to them and sacrifice your own desires for their needs and be wise in all things that concern them. You want to steward your authority well, and discipline them out of love and faithfulness. You never want to be a stone of stumbling in their growth and maturing in the Lord, but instead nourish all the good things he is doing in their souls. You want to be a truthful reflection of the love of Christ to them.

And yet.

We are met with constant provocation to do the opposite. We are continually chafed and irritated and provoked in various ways. And we are shocked at our tendency to anger and shocked at what comes from our mouths and grieved that laziness is always at the door knocking and we’re ashamed at how often we answer the call.

Tenderhearted mothers might be tempted to despair at their weakness and continual failing. And I’m not here to make you feel better about it because I’m not going to make myself feel better about it. It should grieve us. And it’s a sign of spiritual life that it does grieve us. Spiritually dead women aren’t concerned with their sin.

Praise God for the grace of repentance and new beginnings each day. Praise God for HELP from the spirit that enables us to pour out our lives as a drink offering on the altar of their faith. Praise God for forgiveness.

What I’ve come to understand more and more is that young moms need the scriptures to know the grace and mercy God gives in Christ, in order not to sink under the guilt. Older moms need the commands and expectations of scripture to keep us from complacency in parenting. (These are general observations not hard rules.)

But young mom or old, beginner or experienced, we need Christ to teach us humility. Christ’s life, death and resurrection have practical application to our lives in the sphere of motherhood.

We are free from guilt and condemnation because Christ has already been the perfect mom for us.

We are free to stop comparing ourselves with the strengths other moms possess because even if we had every single gift and talent of those around us, we still wouldn’t measure up. Yet Christ is all perfection and then lived it on our behalf.

We are free to look our sins of complacency and laziness in the face and not grow weary of fighting them but be renewed in the battle each day because Christ has already fought and won it for us. Now we fight them for obedience’s sake. “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”

We are free to stop working so hard to meet our own expectations but instead we follow. Following means someone else has the burden of leading. Following is still hard and it requires picking up our cross, but it is accomplished now with the Spirit’s help.

So when you look downstream from the life, death and resurrection of Christ you should see your freedom. Chains of sin have been removed. And downstream from freedom you see joy. And downstream from joy you will find abundant life splashing out around you and onto your family and others. This is how Christ’s work has a practical application to mothers who are both justified by faith in Christ and being sanctified by the Spirit.