Book Review: Devoted

Every once in a while a real gem of a book comes along. I think this is one of those times.

Most women are or will be mums. As such, Tim Challies has done most women a great service in putting together this book Devoted: Great men and their Godly moms (they haven't worked out how to spell 'mum' in Canada...). In Devoted, Tim provides a short biography of eleven mothers of great men from church history (including one or two from the present day). Before I tell you a little about what I loved in this book, I want to point out the breadth of applicability.

Devoted: Great Men and Their Godly Moms

by Tim Challies

Like I mentioned, most women are or will be mums. Now, this book is a wonderful encouragement to young mothers as it enables them to be shaped by these Godly mums before they have gone too far in their mothering. However, Tim chooses some mums who become Christian later on in life and shows how even mums with kids who have left home and not had any Christian upbringing can become Godly mums who seek to raise great men and women of the faith. So, Devoted should be picked up and read by those mums who are older as well as they will find plenty of encouragement and practical application.

In addition, I have been considering lately the application of passages like Isaiah 54:1 and Luke 18:28-30. These passages show us the great truth that in Christ the church becomes like a family. As such, those who have no biological children should be seeking to give 'birth' to or seeking to 'raise' spiritual children. So, I believe that women who don't have biological children would also greatly benefit from this book as an encouragement to become more Godly spiritual mothers.

Now let me tell you just a couple of things that I loved about this book. This first is that Tim Challies provides commentary at the end of each short biography as to how the story of a Godly mum should encourage you in your mothering. For example, as we see Augustine's mother wrestling in prayer for her son, Tim encourages mothers to wrestle in prayer for their children.

The second thing that I loved was that Tim also got a friend of his who is a mother to provide a "mother's reflection" for each biography. This provides another angle on how mums can seek to imitate these Godly mums of the past.

Both of these features combine to make Devoted both encouraging and challenging. It is a heartwarming call to Godliness in arguably the most important job anyone could be given - the job of raising, influencing, teaching and training an eternal soul.

I hope that many mums find this book provided to them by their children, husband or friends. Devoted will be of great use to you as you seek to become a more Godly mum.