She: Why are you talking so sweetly to my adversary while she twirls her hair in such a fetching manner?
He: What are you, jealous? If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s a jealous woman!

Likewise, our God is a jealous God. Much atheist ink has been spilled over the spurious objection that jealousy is a petty and ugly thing that would be beneath the hypothetical God who, since He doesn’t exist, must take on whatever characteristics the atheist assumes would be most fitting for an Almighty God. Conveniently, he can then argue with this Being from his imagination instead of facing the real Almighty. But atheists don’t get to define God. He is Self-defining, and if He says He is jealous, then we’d better pay attention to what He means by that.

Jealousy is not a petty emotion, but a protective and loving one. There is a distinction between jealousy and covetousness: Jealousy has a right. Covetousness has none.

So, what does this have to do with mothering, you ask? Well, lots, actually. One of the most effective tools that Satan has used in our parents’ generation and ours to separate children from the influence of parents is the accusation of jealousy.

You think that a mommy’s kiss on an injured knee would be more fitting than a teacher putting a sterile band-aid on it? Why would you be so controlling? So involved? So jealous?

You don’t want other women raising your children? Tsk-tsk.

You don’t think Sunday School teachers can catechize your children better than you can? What do you think you are, some kind of theologian?

You won’t allow your kids to watch certain “kids’” programming because it blatantly indoctrinates children to believe that parents are at best cluelessly irrelevant, and at worst sinister killjoys?

You think that the public school version of sex education, history, and literature will corrupt your children’s morals, misinform their choices, and ruin their lives? That they would be better off learning about, oh, everything really, in the context of a loving home?JEALOUS! You are jealous, like that mean old God of yours!

Moms, don’t fall for this!

The World will try to convince you that you are a petty, small, and controlling person, if you think that you are the person to whom your children should turn for their emotional, intellectual, and spiritual needs. We’ve been made to feel ashamed of our God-given, natural longing to be our babies’ first and best companions and friends.

Why is that? Are we not the possessors of the right and duty to nurture and guide our young? Are we not the ones who know both first and best what our children need? Of course we are!

But Satan is as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And do you know what prey is the easiest to devour? Unprotected young. They are weak and inexperienced, delicious and tender morsels for a hungry but cowardly enemy.  All intentional, thoughtful Christian moms are belittled by the world as “helicopter parents” for the high crime of demanding to know what their children are being taught, wishing to teach them their own faith, and wanting to control the influences that are brought to bear on those young lives.

This belittling is done for the same reasons, and in the same ways, as the cheating husband. The calumny is meant to shame us into surrendering our rights and privileges as the rightful participants in that intimate relationship. They intend to usurp our thrones as beloved Guides in our childrens’ lives. While allegations of jealousy are hurled at our heads, accusing us of “controlling” our children, the truth is that for a parent to willingly give up control of a child’s upbringing to a stranger employed by a godless State is the true dereliction of duty.

A woman who allows her husband to flirt with other women without rebuke is not an open-minded and loving girl, but a dupe and an abused woman. Not only that, but she encourages his sin by winking at it.

A God who doesn’t mind if you worship other gods is a cuckold, not a Being with the inherent dignity of Yahweh.

So what is a mother who allows the State and its propagandists to make her feel that her interest in her own children’s well-being is somehow dirty, abusive, or petty? They are the abusers. She is being defrauded of her family by a covetous and thieving “society”, and made to feel that she is wrong for objecting.

So, moms (and dads, but I speak to moms), know this: It is not only OK to be a jealous mom, it is a holy calling. Guard your children’s hearts. Guard their minds. Guide their choices. It is a father and mother’s duty, not the state’s, to ensure an education in righteousness. Don’t let the accusation of jealousy put you on the defensive. Do what God has given you to do.

(Note: This is a repost from December 1, 2014.)