Category: Motherhood

Motherhood Hinges on God’s Jealousy

Moms, God designed us to be one-thing women, and there’s one particular thing he wants us to focus on. Are you curious what that is?

April 26, 2025 by: Katie Faris

Multitasking Moms

Multitasking is an illusion for me. I can only fully engage one thing at a time. When it comes to my five children, if more than one tries to talk to me at the same time (which they sometimes do), the result is that I can’t distinguish what one person says from the other.

It’s taken awhile, but when that happens, I’ve finally learned to ask everyone to be quiet. “I want to hear what each of you has to say, but right now I can’t understand any of you.” Then, pointing, “You first, you next, and then you.” They’re beginning to catch on.

Moms, God designed us to be one-thing women, and there’s one particular thing he wants us to focus on. Are you curious what that is? We will get to it, but before we do, we need to understand something 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 yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow 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 name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Ex. 34:14).

God is jealous. It’s even one of his names. And in Scripture, God’s name is closely associated with his character. The problem for moms like you and me is that we’re used to thinking of jealousy as a vice. A no-no. It’s what a child might feel when his friend gets a new toy, an older sister gets to stay up late, or the baby gets extra attention. And that doesn’t fit with what we know about God.

But God’s jealousy is holy, more akin to what a loving husband feels for his bride. God loves his people, and there’s no room in the relationship for idols of any kind. Moses warns the Israelites, “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (Deut. 4:24), and in the New Testament, 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 just for us but for his spirit in us. God is jealous for himself, and he has every right to be. Theologian Stephen J. Wellum explains, “His name, honor, and glory are first and foremost and, for creatures, the chief end to pursue,”1 and J. I. Packer adds, “God seeks what we should seek—His glory, in and through men—and it is for the securing of this end, ultimately, that he is jealous.”2

We see this holy jealousy in the Prophets: “I am the Lord; that is my name; / my glory I give to no other, / nor my praise to carved idols” (Isa. 42:8). “My glory I will not give to another” (Isa. 48:11). “And I will set my glory among the nations, . . . and I will be jealous for my holy name” (Ezek. 39:21, 25).

God loves his people, and there’s no room in the relationship for idols of any kind.

Ultimately, God is jealous for his own glory. “God’s glory is not really an attribute of God. Rather, it is a way of capturing God’s beauty, wonder, perfection, and blessedness,”3 and we encountered it previously when we reflected on his majesty and holiness. “A technical term for God’s manifest presence with his covenant people”4 in the Old Testament, God’s glory is present in Jesus in the New Testament (see John 1:14).

As God is jealous for his glory, we should be zealous for it. This is the one thing God wants us to focus on, to keep in view as we go about our day. When life gets busy and loud, we can pause and ask, “Am I approaching motherhood for God’s glory? Am I a one-thing mom?”

Bishop J. C. Ryle wrote a classic description of zeal for God. Applying it to a Christian mom, “[She] only sees one thing, [she] cares for one thing, [she] lives for one thing, [she] is swallowed up in one thing; and that one thing is to please God. . . . [She] burns for one thing; and that one thing is to please God, and to advance God’s glory.”5

May this description be true of you and me.

Notes:

  1. Stephen J. Wellum, Systematic Theology (Brentwood, TN: B&H Academic, 2024), 650.
  2. J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1978), 155–56.
  3. Wellum, Systematic Theology, 665.
  4. ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008), note on Isa. 6:3.
  5. J. C. Ryle, Practical Religion (1959), 130, as cited by Packer in Knowing God, 157.

This article is adapted from Every Hour I Need You: 30 Meditations for Moms on the Character of God by Katie Faris.

Katie Faris (BA, Grove City College) is the author of God Is Still Good; He Will Be Enough; and Loving My Children. She is also a contributing writer to several blogs including the Gospel Coalition and the Focused Pastor. A pastor’s wife and mother to five, Katie lives with her family in New Jersey. To learn more, visit katiefaris.com.

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Attributes of God That Moms Are Not Called to Emulate

We’re not supermoms, and we were never meant to be. By God’s good design, we’re dependent creatures, and we look to the Lord for “life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25).

April 21, 2025 by: Katie Faris

Mom Superpowers

If you could have any superpower as a mom, which would you choose? Maybe you’d like the flexibility to be everywhere at once—watching over your children at home, school, practice, and all the rest. How would you like to read your children’s minds or have the capacity to get your to-do list done every day and still have time and energy to spare?

While those abilities are tempting, we’re not really supermoms, and we were never meant to be. By God’s good design, we’re dependent creatures, and we look to the Lord for “life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25). Nevertheless, sometimes we move through our days acting as though we are self-sufficient, everything does depend on us, and we really are in control. We can even feel like that’s what’s expected of us.

As moms, we need to remember that only God is God and that this reality is a good thing. While there are some attributes of God that we’re called to emulate, others belong to him alone. Understanding and embracing this truth can transform our parenting.

Only God Is God, and That’s a Good Thing

Just as our young children depend on us, we depend on God. But though our children should grow increasingly independent as they age, we moms are never meant to outgrow our dependence on the Lord. It’s when we resist this reality, when we insist on doing things our way, that there are problems. However, a humble recognition of who God is and who we are (and aren’t) leads to our rescue from this false sense of self-sufficiency.

There’s no one else like God. Scripture says he is incomparable:

There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
     nor are there any works like yours. —Psalm 86:8

To whom then will you compare me,
     that I should be like him? says the Holy One. —Isaiah 40:25

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
    and passing over transgression
     or the remnant of his inheritance?
     He does not retain his anger forever,
     because he delights in steadfast love. —Micah 7:18

We can’t label God or stuff him into any of our boxes. Our words fall short in describing him. Yet our Lord chooses to reveal himself in his word. American author and evangelist A. W. Tozer defined an attribute as being “whatever God has in any way revealed as being true of Himself,”1 and studying God’s attributes is one way to get to know him better for who he truly is.

Knowing God by Studying His Attributes

Though God is one, and we can never truly separate his attributes from one another, looking at them individually is an attempt to wrap our finite minds around God’s infinite, mind-boggling nature. When we do, it’s helpful to distinguish between what theologians call God’s communicable and incommunicable attributes.

Many of God’s attributes are communicable—meaning that they’re meant for us too. God communicates, shares, and passes them on to his people. As 2 Corinthians 3:18 explains, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” There’s this mysterious transfer that takes place. As we behold God, as we spend more time in his presence and get to know him better, we become more and more like him. Examples of these attributes include God’s love, patience, goodness, and gentleness. As moms, we’re meant to imitate these virtues and increasingly display them in our parenting.

As moms, we need to remember that only God is God, and that this reality is a good thing.

But God’s incommunicable attributes are all his, and he doesn’t share them with anyone else. They include his self-existence, self-sufficiency, incomprehensibility, eternality, unchangeableness, and sovereignty, as well as the fact that he is present everywhere, all-powerful, and all-knowing. These attributes offer great hope and freedom to believing moms.

Why Does This Matter?

God has both communicable and incommunicable attributes, and both are important. But what difference does it make to us, as moms, that some attributes only belong to God—that they’re not meant for us, and that we aren’t called to emulate them? God’s incommunicable attributes yield three practical encouragements—as well as many more—to moms:

1. We don’t have to be supermoms.

More than anything else in my life, motherhood has illuminated my need for God. It’s revealed my weaknesses and limitations, showing me what I’m not and will never be. And though I can be tempted to feel guilty and discouraged, or even to compare myself with other moms who seem to have it all together, the Lord’s teaching me that there’s a better way. Our very limitations can lead us to the Lord and his sufficiency (2 Cor. 12:9). We moms can’t do all the things, be everywhere at once, or say all the right words; but God is all-powerful, present everywhere, all-knowing, and all-wise. We need him, and so do our families.

2. We can depend on our great God.

The results of parenting don’t ultimately rest on our efforts. Isn’t this good news? We lack resources, but not God. We lack power, but not God. And through Jesus, we can draw near to God in prayer (Heb. 4:16), casting our cares on him (1 Pet. 5:7), confident in his ability to do what we can’t do. We can’t change our children’s hearts, but he can. We can’t save their souls, but he can.

3. We can trust God.

When anxiety and fear about health, safety, choices, and the future weigh on our shoulders, God’s sovereignty reassures us that even though we feel out of control, God remains in complete control. Because he is good, wise, and powerful—and never changes in his nature—we can trust him.

Motherhood Is Holy Ground

Motherhood becomes holy ground when God uses it to open our eyes to see who we are—our finiteness, our dependence on the Lord, and our need for him—and to draw us closer to him. In a world where we often feel like we need to be the strong ones, God welcomes us to come to him humbly, as children: “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:4). In God’s kingdom, humility and weakness aren’t frowned upon but honored, and the self-existent one welcomes us. So let’s go to him, pouring out our sorrows and asking him to sustain and help us.

We weren’t made to carry the weight of the world—or even the weight of our families—on our own shoulders. Rather, God’s incommunicable attributes free us from that burden and offer hope in someone—named Jesus—who is our true and ultimate hero. “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Heb. 1:3; see also Col. 1:15–17). Having rescued us from sin through his death and resurrection, our Lord’s power provides all we need for life—including mom life—"through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence” (2 Pet. 1:3).

Instead of emulating God’s incommunicable attributes, we worship him for being all that we’re not. We adore him for being incomprehensible and beyond our understanding, and we praise him for acting in incomprehensible ways, such as saving helpless sinners. Ultimately, we surrender to the Lord and trust him with our families.

Notes:

  1. A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1961), 12.

Katie Faris is the author of Every Hour I Need You: 30 Meditations for Moms on the Character of God.

Katie Faris (BA, Grove City College) is the author of God Is Still Good; He Will Be Enough; and Loving My Children. She is also a contributing writer to several blogs including the Gospel Coalition and the Focused Pastor. A pastor’s wife and mother to five, Katie lives with her family in New Jersey. To learn more, visit katiefaris.com.

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10 Truths for Moms

Katie Faris

February 24, 2023

While motherhood is a desirable and godly calling, it also brings pain and heartache. But God is still good. He really is, no matter what. These are ten truths for moms like me to cling to on our difficult days.