Motherhood and dying

I read a fabulous post today at Choosing Home about being a mom today that really sums up a lot of what God has been teaching me recently. Molly has recently written a lot that is not Biblical (she’s reading some sources that are misinterpreting church history and Greek and are using sloppy exegesis) , but I do agree with her insights about motherhood in this article.

I have really been learning about submitting to the busyness of life with small children and dying to self daily to serve my family. A verse that I have been thinking about a lot recently is 1 Timothy 2:15:

“But women will be saved through childbearing-- if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.”

Most pastors sail over this verse because they don’t know how to deal with it (or don’t want to offend by teaching what it means) and so I haven’t really heard much about it. Obviously, it is not teaching that women are saved (as in saved from their sin) by being mothers, as salvation is clearly only received by faith in Christ. I did read a post by Carolyn Mahaney from Girltalk about it that made sense to me. (If I can find the article, I'll link it later). In the Greek, what is translated “saved” in the NIV version, is actually better understood as “kept safe.” How true! If I mother with faith, love, and holiness with self-control, I will be kept safe from much sin, temptation, error, and trouble.

Motherhood has been such a sanctifying thing for me and continues to be a way that God works in my life. As Molly wrote, the immediate needs of my children require a self-sacrificing work that requires me to let go of my wants and needs. I am still railing against this letting go and too often find frustration instead of peace as I see my plans and expectations foiled. And it is not a letting go to some great cosmic force or letting go to chaos. It is simply a releasing of my needs to allow me to meet the needs of the boys and Joe. And it is good because it is what God has called me too.

Despite what everyone says, the Bible is clear where my priorities are.

Titus 2:4-5
Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

I am a “younger woman” and so this verse lays it all out for me clearly.

The only thing left for me is to “die.” Amy at Amy’s Humble Musings excerpts this (in another excellent post about “one of those days").
“An older missionary said something to Amy Carmichael when she was a young missionary that stayed with her for life. She had spoken of something which was not to her liking. His reply was, “See in it a chance to die.”

And that is what I want to do. To see my daily service to my family as my chance to die—that Christ might live in me and so change me more into His image.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.