What is God’s Vision of Motherhood?

Whether you find yourself in the midst of sticky countertops, interrupted sleep, a mountain of laundry, or never-ending taxiing around to sports, emotional turbulence, and the quiet navigation of letting go, motherhood requires everything you have.  And because no two children are alike, even in the same family, navigating how to encourage your child to do what is right and push them away from what is evil has become a commodity for business.  Parenting classes, therapy courses, and online influencers have filled our lives to try to figure out just the right thing to do to be able to raise a productive adult to thrive in society.  The physical grind in the early years soon gives way to the mental and spiritual heavy-lifting of raising adolescents.  Too often, we allow cultural influences to guide us rather than looking to the one who has not only created our children but has perfectly put them into the family that they are in.  

In today’s culture, we are seeing two opposing views at the exact same time.  We have been led to believe that children are disposable through abortion if they are deemed unwanted.  And if they are wanted, parents have fallen prey to being so child-focused in our rearing that we are raising a generation of narcissists who believe that the world should bend to their every whim and are so fragile when it does not.  Both of these perspectives miss the mark because they are simply not rooted in what Scripture shows us.  Mothers are feeling depleted and confused, or oftentimes invisible.  But Scripture tells a fundamentally different story about the work in front of you and the souls living under your roof.

Let’s look to Scripture to examine the plumb line of truth about motherhood and how we are to gain the right perspective on raising children.  Psalm 127:3–5 says, "Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.  Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth.  Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.  They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court."

The New Testament reaffirms this perspective in 2 Timothy 1:5. Scripture never portrays children as a punishment or a burden.  Quite the opposite.  Yet too often, we see our children as a bother, in the way of our time and money, or even more recently, we are hearing that they are damaging to our climate.  Yet, we see that God has used the idea of family and raising children as the primary means of spreading the gospel, kingdom building, and showing His authority over the generations.  

In 1 Samuel, we see Hannah desiring a child, not for herself or to further her status.  She instead says that she will offer him back to the Lord.  She knows that this child is not her own, but that she will be entrusted to steward her son for the Lord.   Later in the New Testament, we see Paul praising Eunice and Lois, the mother and grandmother of Timothy.  By highlighting Lois and Eunice, the New Testament shows that a mother's and grandmother's spiritual investment has massive kingdom value. Their dedication prepared Timothy to become Paul’s trusted companion, a pastor in Ephesus, and a crucial leader in the early Church, demonstrating generational faith imparted not through public pulpit ministry, but through daily, unglamorous instruction at home.

God shows us through His word that He sees children as gifts, as image-bearers, and as kingdom citizens.  As mothers, the job of raising those image-bearers and kingdom citizens is a heavy lift.  In Psalm 139:13–16, we read of God’s intimate involvement with the creation of each child.  ¹³ For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book.

Every single child, from a family of wealth to a family of poverty, has innate value that is not a mistake or deemed of any less significance to God.  Even in Matthew, we see that Jesus rebukes his own disciples for not welcoming children.  While society was known to push children to the edges of society with little value, Jesus gave them access to himself.  

While culture puts a high value on productivity and the means to contribute, God values the soul.  

So what does God say about our role as a mother?  

Proverbs 31:25–28 gives a portrait of a Godly woman who orders the affairs of the house and is considered blessed by her children and her husband.  She is not caught up in things that are trivial or divisive, and puts her trust in the Lord so that she is able to “laugh at the days ahead” with full knowledge that our futures belong to God.  

Titus 2:4–5 commands us to train up and love the next generation with sober-minded diligence.   If we see our children through the lens that God sees them, we cannot give anything but our best.  Through this process, our hearts will be sanctified as we align our hearts and minds to His.  The daily sacrifice of motherhood is just that—a sacrifice.  We are to look to Christ, who gave the ultimate sacrifice for us.  Instead of dreading the daily striving, we can look at how we have an opportunity to sacrifice as our Savior did daily.  We put aside the things of the flesh, the things that focus on “me,” and we pick up our cross and labor for those that Christ has given to us as a blessing.  

Let us look to Philippians 2:3–7: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.  In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:  Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” The daily labor of motherhood can, when looked at through the lens of Scripture, bring you the mind of Christ.  Yes, you will die to self, but you are promised a helper in the Holy Spirit—the One who was sent to give us the ability to withstand what we cannot in our own flesh. Setting down sleep, personal schedules, and self-interest mirrors Christ’s self-emptying love.  And this dying to self will produce eternal fruit.  Motherhood is not an obstacle in our lives; it is the very thing that will help purify us to become more Christ-like.  

Motherhood cannot be sustained through grit and determination alone.  Luckily, we are not alone!  When our patience runs dry, and our wisdom feels inadequate, or our heart feels angry or discouraged, we are not alone.    We are invited to ‘approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need’ (Hebrews 4:16). Every poured-out effort is seen by the God who ‘gently leads those that have young’ (Isaiah 40:11). Take your exhaustion to Him in prayer; the daily dying to self is not in vain, for in bending low to serve our children, we walk the very steps of Christ.