"I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born, I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations." Jeremiah 1:5
Have you ever felt far from feeling like motherhood was a sacred calling? I sure had my fair share of burnout, exhaustion, and discouragement if what I'm doing in life even matters.
Every day, I grew more tired of being tired. And, of course, in pursuit of my heart, God led me to join a Bible study on mom-hood. This beautiful community gave me a deeper understanding of biblical parenting with moms who encouraged me in truth and faith. I learned that we are not just called to be parents, but there's an eternal significance that outweighs anything else we do.
Jeremiah 1:5 says, "I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born, I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations."
The word sacred in Hebrew means "Kadosh," which is to be set apart for consecration, dedication, and sanctification. This sacredness is for the worthiness and connection of worship and service to God.
God set us apart from the beginning to be His daughter to share His name among the nations. Whatever we are called to, we were made to be set apart from the world's culture to serve and worship God. So in other words, we can ask, “How does this apply to us moms?” and answer with, "The set-apart, connected to God, worthy of, calling to motherhood!"
What does this look like? How can we live this out? It begins with a sacrificial love that only God has given us for motherhood. Sacrificial love changes the way we think. There comes a moment when we hold our child in our arms and realize this kind of love runs deeper than we've ever experienced before. This kind of love bubbles up to care for their needs before ours. When we become moms, giving up something for something else can often feel challenging, burdensome, irritating, and restrictive. Our skin and patience stretch; we can suffer sleepless nights; our time and finances may become restricted. What if we look at these things not as a negative but look at what we are doing as an honor to God and shaping us to love and be more like Jesus?
Romans 12:1 says, "And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.” 1 John 4:9 says, “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.”
What better way to be shown such a perfect sacrificial love than the one Jesus displayed for us so we would know how to love our kids well. If we were to take these verses and live them out daily, it would shift our perspective of what we think is burdensome to something God-honoring by allowing each one to grow us and help us love more like Jesus.
From the start, it all began with God's love. This love is an unselfish passion, and we know this kind because of God's love He demonstrated through Jesus Christ for you and me. Therefore, we can love our kids with this same unselfish passion. After all, we are the first example of the hands and feet of Jesus to our littles. If we are to emulate Jesus the best we can, who by the way is the word made flesh according to John 1:14, then we are to follow His instruction manual (the Bible), which gives us everything we need to follow this sacred set-apart calling of mom-hood to raise radicals for Christ.
Your fellow Able Mom,
Jayme
Heavenly Father, thank you for the sacrificial love you generously displayed
for me so I can express a selfless love for my child and begin
looking at burdens as a blessing.
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