Mothering for the Glory of Jesus: How Our Shortcomings Point to the Cross

I was driving my son to preschool today, telling him the title of the song we were listening to: “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”. He gave an audibly excited inhale and said, “we love to learn about Jesus!” What an encouragement to my heart this was—because isn’t this the goal?—to hear my son’s perception of Jesus as one who is good.

The world often misconstrues Jesus, or Christianity, as oppressive and unkind. Religion becomes an unattainable set of rules, faith becomes a heavily-burdened conscience, and the church becomes a congregation of hypocrites. This is so far from the wonderful and beautiful truth about who Jesus is and the life he offers us. The scripture below begins to paint this picture for us.

I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly. John 10:10

I am so glad that my son is starting to see the beauty of Jesus. And before you think this is one big boast-post about how my awesome parenting got us to this point, I’d love to share some of my reflections that followed. How did we come to this moment? What has the message of Jesus been in our home?

I’ll give you a hint: it had a lot more to do with my own weakness on display as opposed to strength. I started noticing a pattern early on: the days I really devoted myself to praying over my children’s spiritual growth ended up being the days I found myself needing to apologize more and celebrate the grace of Jesus with them. I think somewhere in my mind, I thought that the more I prayed about my parenthood, the more I would start seeing patience, kindness, and joy flowing out of me. And while the Holy Spirit has certainly brought about fruit in all of these places, something else has grown too. I have grown in an awareness of my own shortcomings, and that will always bring one to a place of clinging to the finished work of Jesus on the cross.

I thought that in order to lead my kids to Jesus, I would need to shine up my behavior. In a way, I thought that my own glory would lead them Jesus, but our perfection isn’t a prerequisite for our usefulness to Jesus. My good days and bad days can both be used in order to bring glory to the king. Jesus died for us while we were still in sin and it is our faith that brings about righteousness. Enhancing my children’s faith in the saving work of Jesus is actually the best thing I can do—not only for their salvation—but even for their own righteous living.

Jesus knew this on those days that I lost my patience, and couldn’t help but keep falling short, that he was going to be the hero of the story that day. He was going to put his saving grace and love on display for my child.

God brings about our holiness—but he does it by increasing our faith. We grow in our understanding of God’s love, and the love we show increases. (1 John 4:19) Things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control—all those coveted spiritual fruits we hope to see—are produced by the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit gives life. The flesh counts for nothing. John 6:63

We could study every law and command found in Scripture and still never come to Jesus, place our faith in him, and experience the power of the Holy Spirit—and all the overflowing life that comes along with it. This is exactly what Jesus spoke to the Pharisees about in John 5:

You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. John 5:39-40

Coming to Jesus means abundant living—enjoying the fruit of righteouness—and standing before God in confidence, on the basis of faith. Belief in the saving work of Jesus means the Spirit flowing through us like rushing, living waters.

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. John 7:37-39

This has always been a message that confused people. John 6 describes Jesus being questioned by a crowd about the work God wanted them to do. I can almost hear their cries. Just tell us how to have God’s approval! What Jesus says is astounding—

Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” John 6:28-29

Jesus tells them to not work for what fades away but work for what brings about eternal life. Work to cultivate faith. And this is the good news: we can cultivate a beautifully vibrant faith in our home and in the lives of our children without attaining perfection ourselves. Jesus shines through all our broken places. He is glorified in the midsts of our shortcomings.

As we walk out our motherhood today as believers of the good and true gospel, may we rest in the finished work of Jesus. May we celebrate all that he is and share with our children the glorious grace that is lavished on us.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are… 1 John 3:1

We are children of God, judged through the lens of Jesus’ sacrifice. Accepted and loved. So go—celebrate God’s laws, teach them to your children, uphold them as good messages from a loving and gracious God—but don’t let the law outshine the cross. The law was intended to point us to Jesus. May we point our children to Jesus in the same way as we fall short.