Choose to be a Housewife and a Mother

Written April 21, 2007, By Jennifer Austin

Being a housewife and mother are the best jobs in the world. Most women come to a time when they have to decide whether to stay home care for the family or go to work to a second income. I am blessed with a husband that will work and provide for his family (1 Timothy 5:8). No we don’t have as much income as other households may have but we have enough to feed, clothing, and house the four of us and many animals.

I did work in the past when the kids were small. I had to when my first-born was a baby. I was a single mother and had to provide for him and myself. After I met my husband I was able to stay home. I thought about going back to work after my daughter was born but when it came to finding competent childcare we had a lot of trouble. After paying childcare I was lucky to bring home $50. Not to mention, I was not able to find a childcare provider that I trusted. My husband and I decided it was best to stay home and care for them myself. I thought like many that I would be so bored and there were times that I was. Soon I realized that there was a lot that I could do and involve myself in that would keep me from being bored. I believe it is what you put into it. There is a lot of pleasure in providing for your family. I know that there are many days that I work from 5:30 am till 7:30pm. That is plenty of work to keep a person from getting bored.

After becoming a Christian, I realized that I had made the right decision to be there for my family first. After reading scriptures like Titus 2:4-5, Ephesians 5:22, Colossians 3:18, I learned that the Lord and my family are my first priority. It would be hard to make them my priority if I was focused on working somewhere else all day. Only after I got home could I think of my family’s needs. How many people take their work home with them? Are you still thinking about what reports are due tomorrow? Are you worried about something that has to be finished at work instead of putting all of your focus on your families needs?

 I have heard many say, “I have to work in order to provide for my family, we cannot get by with only one income”. I have already shown that biblically the Lord has put the husband head of providing for the family. I guess what we need to look at are what providing for our family entails. We know that we need food to eat, clothes to wear, and shelter to live in. The rest really are luxuries. I will admit that in order for a man to work these days he needs a vehicle to drive to and from work, to the store to get food etc. We can start getting into trouble by saying that we need a nice vehicle with a car note in order to get to and from work. Oh and don’t forget about the second vehicle so that the wife doesn’t have to get up and drive her husband to work. Now that the first-born is 16 we need to buy him a car so that he can go where he needs to go. We also need a credit card or two just incase something happens. We have to have satellite TV so that we have something to do in the evenings to keep us from getting bored.

Do you see where I am going with this? In  Matthew chapter 6, the Lord talks about people trying to make themselves look good to others around you by praying in front of others, showing alms, etc. We may say that we don’t do that, but then he goes even further and talks about laying up our treasures here. He compares Solomon’s clothing was nowhere near as beautiful as the lilies of the field. He even points out the necessities and tells us not to even worry about them, eating, drinking, clothing. He said he will care for us. The more we accumulate here on earth the more we depend on them and not on the Lord. He said where are treasure is so will our heart be.

Now, I am not saying that you cannot have anything extra. If you can afford them then you can choose whether or not to get them. What I am trying to point out is, are the extra things worth not being there for your family. Is the extra car payment worth working all of the time and not being able to be there for your child when he/she is sick and needs to stay home from school?  Is that cable/satellite bill worth missing a play that happens to be during your workday? Is that large cell phone bill worth letting a day care or baby sitter raise your child the way they want to? Are you working for your family or the luxuries they are enjoying? Are you doing what the Lord would have you do?

I do want to say that I understand there are certain circumstances that will sometimes prevent a husband from working (disability for example), or from making a good income. I am not saying that in every situation the husband is able to care for the family. Sometimes a wife has to carry the load, her priority is still to her family. There are also a lot of single mothers out there unfortunately. I was one once. I am so thankful for my faithful husband who has devoted his life to God and caring for his family.

My purpose for this paper is to show that the importance of a wife staying home with her children and family to bring them up in the Lord, this is the way the Lord had intended it to be. So if you are trying to decide between working and caring for your children I hope you look to the Bible and make a decision based on it. Don’t just take my word for it. Look to the Bible for the answers.

May God Bless You.

References:

1Ti 5:8  But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

Tit 2:4  That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,

Tit 2:5  To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

Eph 5:22  Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

Col 3:18  Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.

Mat 6:1-34  Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;

That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.