As Augustine says, God delivers us from ourselves — from our own miserable errors. Though our sin nature draws us to worship other things, God made a way to redeem our hearts back to him, our first love, through the death of his Son.

Augustine would have made a great mother. Though he was a man (and therefore disqualified), and though he lived more than fifteen centuries ago, he learned how to conquer the kinds of idols that still creep into motherhood today. His Confessions shows him to be a good counselor for restless and tempted moms.

Before coming to faith in Christ, he was something of a playboy. He lived a wild youth, feasting on the idols of life: sex, alcohol, knowledge, laziness, and even thievery. But God rescued him, first through a conversation with the famous bishop Ambrose, and then more dramatically through the living and breathing word. Knowing the temptation of idolatry, having searched relentlessly, even recklessly, for life and pleasure, Augustine encourages mothers (and everyone else) in our battle against temptation:

What tortuous paths! How fearful a fate “the rash soul” (Isaiah 3:9) which nursed the hope that after it had departed from you, it would find something better! Turned this way and that, on its back, on its side, on its stomach, all positions are uncomfortable. You alone are repose. You are present, liberating us from miserable errors, and you put us on your way, bringing comfort and saying: “Run, I will carry you, and I will see you through to the end, and there I will carry you.” (Isaiah 46:4).

As Augustine says, God delivers us from ourselves — from our own miserable errors. Though our sin nature draws us to worship other things, God made a way to redeem our hearts back to him, our first love, through the death of his Son.

Five Common Idols

Motherhood brings unique temptations to idolatry — to put our hope and heart in someone or something other than God. Early in motherhood I often muttered, “If only my child would sleep at night, I’d be a better mom.” Eventually he did sleep through the night. Then my if only became, “If only I could get time to myself during the day, I’d be a happier mom.”

While we may not bow down to idols made of wood, stone, or metal, as many have, we bow in our own ways — to children, to success, to comfort, to control, to approval. To be honest, I’ve had many if only’s in my life as a mom — circumstances, dreams, and pleasures I thought would solve my problems and make life better. But if we put our hope in these longings, our if only’s can subtly become idolatry. The Lord declares,

“My people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols. Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder with great horror. . . . My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” (Jeremiah 2:11–13 NIV)

Weary mom, where are you looking for water? Have you found the fountain, or are you desperately digging somewhere else?

1. Children

Children are a good gift from the Lord. But like all good gifts, we can turn children into idols that we worship.

We might look to having a child of our own as the thing that will make our life whole and complete. We may find our meaning and purpose in our mothering, so much so that, when our children leave the nest, we are left unanchored, without a purpose. We may even seek to live through our children, trying to make up for failings from our own childhood.

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