The most common and damaging myth, in my opinion, is the unbiblical idea that a woman’s highest calling is to be a wife and mother. Now, there’s no question that the work of motherhood is extremely important, and has eternal value. In fact, I’m guessing this particular myth developed as a reaction against people who devalue the important work women have traditionally done in the home. But the idea that being a wife and mother is a woman’s highest calling is not only a slap in the face to women who are not wives or mothers; it is a distortion of what the Bible has to say about humanity in general, and women in particular. Before we get too far into this, I want to give you the spoiler alert, so you can keep it in mind as we move through 5 Busting the Motherhood Myth this conversation. Are you ready? Here it is: A woman’s highest calling is to follow Jesus, and be transformed in his image. Everything else we do has to flow out of that, or risk becoming an idol.
Open your Bibles to Genesis 1, verses 26-28. Now, some people get kind of confused by the timeframes in the first couple chapters of Genesis. If modern Western people were writing the Bible, we’d write a simple, chronological account, with Genesis 1 flowing directly into Genesis 2. But the Bible was not written by modern, Western people, and whoever put together the book of Genesis included two creation accounts: the large scale, cosmic one we read in Genesis 1, and the more focused account about the Garden of Eden that starts in Genesis 2, verse 4. The reason I mention this is because it is really, really important to understand that all of humankind, both male and female, are included in the mandate God gives in Genesis 1. It’s not like God created Adam, told him to rule over creation, and decided he needed a junior secretary to wash his socks while he was busy establishing dominion.
Every man and woman, every human soul that has graced this universe, even for a second, was made in God’s image, created to be a reflection of who God is. This is our core identity, and it is also our highest calling. Our highest calling isn’t motherhood, or fatherhood, or ministry, or whatever it is we rely on to make us feel important. You ARE important! You were created in the image of God! And the highest calling of every woman, and every man, is to be a follower of Jesus. To submit ourselves to that process of being continually transformed into his likeness, so that we become a better reflection of who he is to everyone we come in contact with.
The most common and damaging myth, in my opinion, is
the unbiblical idea that a woman’s highest calling is to be
a wife and mother.
Now, there’s no question that the work of motherhood is
extremely important, and has eternal value. In fact, I’m
guessing this particular myth developed as a reaction
against people who devalue the important work women
have traditionally done in the home. But the idea that being
a wife and mother is a woman’s highest calling is not only a
slap in the face to women who are not wives or mothers; it is
a distortion of what the Bible has to say about humanity in
general, and women in particular.
Before we get too far into this, I want to give you the
spoiler alert, so you can keep it in mind as we move through
5
Busting the Motherhood Myth
this conversation. Are you ready? Here it is: A woman’s
highest calling is to follow Jesus, and be transformed in his
image. Everything else we do has to flow out of that, or risk
becoming an idol.