Motherhood…A Definition.

By:Drew Anderson

What is Motherhood?

Dictionary.com says, “Motherhood is the state of being a mother. A person enters Motherhood when they become a mother. This most commonly happens when their child is born, but it can also happen through adoption or by marrying or becoming a partner to someone with children.”

Is this definition sufficient?

We should ask a better question to answer that question: What does the Bible teach about being a mother?

A mother walks in biblical wisdom by embracing her God-given biblical, physical, spiritual, emotional, intellectual, and social responsibilities, as well as understands how to yield, steward, invest in, care for, and guide her children throughout their various seasons of life so that her children will accept their God-given responsibilities and lead a life of biblical wisdom.

Let’s take each component of this definition and examine them according to the Bible.

  • Biblical wisdom
    • God deals with His people through a covenant relationship. No man or woman can approach God outside of His covenant. Christ inaugurated the New Covenant and how mankind can live under the blessing of present and eternal fellowship with God.
    • Nevertheless, this relationship can be grieved and quenched. Through walking in biblical wisdom, a follower of God can remain in fellowship with Him. It does not mean walking in prudence only, although it doesn’t exclude things like prudence either. But, on the other hand, it means walking in righteousness.
    • Walking in righteousness aligns one’s life with God’s character, which means the follower of God asks, “What would honor God?” God’s ways inform every way of His followers.
    • And so, God writes to Joshua, “This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success” (Joshua 1:8 AMPC).
    • Therefore, a mother’s first responsibility is to know God (through faith) and then walk according to this knowledge of God, i.e., biblical wisdom.
  • Embrace
    • A biblical mother embraces her role and responsibility. According to the Oxford dictionary, to embrace is to, in a sense, encircle or surround, as in taking into one’s arms. It’s a hug.
    • A mother who embraces being a mother hugs her responsibility as a mother.
  • God-given—as opposed to constructed from society.
    • Biblical responsibility
      • When a mother mothers well, she does what God enabled her to do. Therefore, her responsibility to mother is not predicated or evaluated according to the culture or present society.
    • Physical
      • A mother resourcefully provides for her children and the home with the means afforded her.  
      • Proverbs 31:10-31
        • Is this prescription or description? Description. This mother is doing what she is gifted and able to do to provide physically for her family.
    • Spiritual
      • A mother—along with the father—brings God’s Word (through recitation, reading, memorizing, singing, etc.) into her children’s lives. In addition, a mother gives her children a daily diet of biblical food.
      • Deuteronomy 6:6-7
        • God’s Word is taught in the home first and foremost.
    • Emotional
      • Here’s a quote I heard this week, “A mother sets the tone for their home.”
      • Proverbs 25:28
        • Mothers aim to control their emotions to teach their children to do the same. Unfortunately, if not learned early, self-control stymies and otherwise short-circuits the transition from childhood to adulthood.
    • Intellectual
      • The education of your children is directly related to your value of education.
      • Proverbs 22:6
        • A mother must know her children’s bent, and ensures that their education shapes their minds accordingly.
    • Social
      • Children are taught how to interact within its boundaries for society to function. A low disregard for the law or civic standards leads to a scornful adolescent that sees no reason why they cannot rebel.
      • Romans 13:1-7
        • A mother must cast a vision for her children’s godly investment in their community.
  • Yield
    • Mothers must yield their children to the Lord. Every child is a gift from God and is not a mother’s possession. She birthed them, but God knew them long before they were born (Psalm 139:13-18).
    • 1 Samuel 1:26-28
      • Hannah’s yielding of Samuel to the Lord is a principle for all mothers to observe.
  • Steward
    • Mothers model care for the things they possess. If a mother is a discontent woman with her lot, her children end up discontent. Therefore, a mother’s attitude of gratitude directly impacts the contentment of her children’s attitude.
    • Luke 16:10
  • Invest
    • A mother that invests her life into her children (and family) fulfills her primary task as a mother.
    • Titus 2:4-5
  • Care
    • A mother’s compassion balances a father’s firmness.
    • 1 Kings 3:16-28
  • Guide
    • Guiding means discipline. A mother is a clear, calm, and consistent disciplinarian.
    • Hebrews 12:5-11
      • God manifests His love through discipline.
  • Various seasons of life
    • A mother discerns her children’s various seasons so that she can respect and redeem them well.
  • So that her children will accept their God-given responsibilities and lead a life of biblical wisdom.
    • A mother aims to honor God and serve her children so that her children leave ready to face the world.
    • I heard a quote recently that said, “We can’t prepare the world for children, but we can prepare our children for the world.”

God bless every mother, and may their mothering raise a generation of God-fearing men and women who walk in biblical wisdom. Amen.

— May 4, 2022