Equality of the Sexes

Men and women are created equal. We have different gifts, but neither set of gifts is more important than the other. So why are the successes of men praised and the successes of women in the home looked down upon? Sin.

In our sinful world, the unspiritual pursuit of success, money, and power mean more than the eternal goals of a quiet life, a close relationship with God, and raising children to love the Lord. Even typing it down, desiring money and power seems to 'make sense'. Wanting to live quietly and raise Godly children seems weak and pointless. It's something that 'anyone could do' (not true, but it sounds true) and wouldn't bring us individual glory.

Titus 2:11-12 - "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age"

Proverbs 28:22 - "A man with an evil eye hastens after riches, and does not consider that poverty will come upon him."

It's all about personal glory. Having your friends, neighbors, and strangers say, "Aren't you amazing. Aren't you smart. Aren't you important." Building up our pride through visible success makes us feel important, because we love the attention. But the attention doesn't bring happiness. There's a saying that football players who go pro have a disease brought on by wealth - cocaine addiction.

Proverbs 13:7 - "There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing; And one who makes himself poor, yet has great riches."

Proverbs 13:10 - "By pride comes nothing but strife, but with the well-advised is wisdom."

I John 2:15-17 - "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love fo the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - is not the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever."

The problem with feminism is that it seeks to elevate women to the same status hungry state that worldly men live in. They burn bras to prove that they won't be "held down". Feminism has some valid concerns with helping men to see that women are valuable, but they've never gone at it in a Godly way. In a Godly society women are valuable because we're created in the image of God. We reflect a portion of His glory.

Femininity recognizes the differences between the sexes and seeks to elevate women to the Godly role we're created to fulfill. Some women are supposed to make a difference in the secular work world. It isn't that we can't do it, but most women will feel more fulfilled when they let go of the "pride of life" and stop trying to be men.

Men and women have different gifts. We're created to show different aspects of God (which we'll discuss another day). When we try to fill each other's roles we end up tired and frustrated.

Again, I'm a wife, mother, small business owner, and over-achiever. I don't think women should stay barefoot and pregnant (unless they want to or God's calling them to it), and they shouldn't allow themselves to be treated like doormats.

Men and women are both necessary. Our emotional and spiritual gifts are unique, special, and necessary. We need to stop expecting men to be more "sensitive" and women to be more "successful".

As Dr. Laura Schlessinger loves to say, "Men want to go out and slay the dragon for their wives." Women want to be a beauty worth of saving and fighting for.

There's a reason for manly desires to struggle and capture. There's a reason for women to want to be physically beautiful. There's nothing stronger than Christian women who live as God wants them to. Together we WILL change the world for the Lord.

We just can't do it through our own strength. We can't strive and succeed without sacrificing everything we hold dear. Together we will learn what it means to be women of God.

With these devotions for Christian women, we're going to explore Pope John Paul's Theology of the Body with help from Christopher West and others. I'll be applying their thoughts and ideas to what it means to be a woman today.

Pro-Life and Pro-Woman

Feminism encourages the ultimate in anti-life propaganda. It encourages abortion, because abortion "frees" woman from being kept home with a child. It's as if they believe that children ruin lives. I recently discovered that the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation donated $500,000 to Planned Parenthood. Why? It makes me wonder.

But it's abortion that ruins women's lives. For proof, read the stories of real women at Choose Life Ribbon, Priests for Life, and Silent No More.

Beginning to Explore the Soul

Who are we, as woman? What are we meant to be? Feminists say that we can be anything a man can be. Some conservative Christians say that women are meant to be submissive (where submission = doormat).

The only answers that matter come from the Bible and from God.

As a woman, I want to be everything I'm meant to be - without sacrificing my purpose, my mission, my family, and my dreams. Some dreams are already gone, or are they? Are my dreams part of who I am to such an extent that they come from who I'm meant to be? Have I misinterpreted my mission and am I waiting for my true calling to appear?

I suspect that this is the case... at least for me.

I have a calling, as do all people, given to me by God. What is it? Let's start by finding out what a women are meant to be - what we are designed to do - what brings us joy - and what life's all about.

What is a Woman? The Great Romance

What does the Bible say about what it means to be a woman?

In one sense, there are three types of women. There are women before sin appeared, women living now in a sin filled world, and women living in heaven when sin is no more.

We were created to be like women before sin appeared. There was only one woman who lived in this state, and that was Eve. We've heard lots of negatives about Eve and her sin. Eve has positive things to teach us too.

In Genesis 2:21, the Bible states, "And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place."

Adam was made from the dust of the earth, but Eve came from a man. Personally, I'd rather not be made directly from dirt. As a piece of rib, she came originally from a place near his heart, a structure that protected his heart and was wrapped securely by his arms. As women, we need to continue to guard our husband's hearts and protect them. Their hearts are far more sensitive than they will ever admit. In return, we are wrapped in our husband's arms and protected by him.

Genesis 2:24 - "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."

Husbands and wives become one flesh in a physical, soulish, and spiritual sense. The one-flesh union (I think you ladies all know what I'm talking about here) was intended to be a complete joining that represents the communion of God the Father and God the Son. (The Holy Spirit is also important and in complete communion with the Father and Son, but for various reasons, it's not applicable here.) The communion between the Father and the Son is so complete that they are united as husbands and wives are during the one-flesh union (not in a sexual sense), but they are as individual as wives and husbands are as we live our daily lives.

Genesis 2:25 states - "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed."

Do you like people to see you naked? I certainly don't. On an episode of Fear Factor, the contestants had to walk out naked onto a stage and let photographers take their pictures. Many people have nightmares about going to a public place naked or in just their underwear. Why is there fear?

We don't want to be seen and lusted after. When people look at our naked bodies, to they see us or our bodies? Our bodies. The desire of every person is to be loved for who they really are. We desire communion. After Adam sinned and ate the fruit, we became separated from God and who we really are (our souls and spirits) became separated from our physical bodies. This separation was the result of that sin and every sin since then. The sins in our lives have the same effect.

In the beginning, nakedness was beautiful. It showed love, the glory of God, and purity. It was truly the "temple of the Holy Spirit". It's not too late for us to begin to live this way now. Those with purity of heart can still see the body as it was meant. The purpose of the body and the glory of the body didn't change when our sinful modern world began. It was our hearts that changed.

I'm going to summarize a story. I don't have the specifics handy, but when I do, I'll update this section with names and dates. There was a bishop in Egypt over a thousand years ago who was leaving a meeting with a group of other priests and bishops. A gorgeous prostitute, the most famous one of her day, was being paraded in the streets by her owners to try to gain more business. You can imagine what she must have been wearing. One bishop looked at her in awe and the others averted their gaze. The other priests chastized him, "What are you doing? It's sinful to look at her." (And for them it would have been sinful.) "Can't you see what wonderous beauty the Lord has created?" the bishop said. He gazed at her with kindness and love that was so different from the lust she usually saw, that she sought him out, became a Christian, and then became a saint in the Catholic church.

We can't live in nakedness now, but our bodies were created to reveal the glory of God and show the world who He is.

Of all the analogies that help us to understand our relationship with God, none is as personal and intimate as the Bride and Bridegroom. Potter and clay, Shepherd and sheep, Master and servant are all great analogies that teach us about our relationship to God, but none shows us how much God loves us the way he does when he tells us that Christ is the Bridegroom.

As women, we are a picture to each other of who people are in Christ. Men and women are the church; we are all the bride of Christ. That is an amazing gift.

When we think of spiritual Christians who experience the love of the Lord, a majority of them are women. When we think of Christians who drag others away from the Lord, again, a majority of them are women. Women are both the best and the worst of humankind.

When we live for our best, we receive a 'Great Romance' with Christ that mirrors the dating relationship we have with our husbands. Mother Theresa of Calcutta occasionally fell asleep during mass in the chapel she shared with the sisters of her convent. When asked about it, she said that she loved to fall asleep in the loving arms of her Savior. She had a love relationship with Christ that surpasses what most of us expect from a typical church-going relationship.

God is calling us all to something deeper and more intimate than going to church on Sunday, singing songs, and living a good life. He wants a relationship.

Recently, I've begun having visions of running with Christ through fields of wildflowers on the side of a hill. Have you seen movies where two lovers run toward each other through a field of wildflowers and fall into each other's arms? It has that kind of a feeling.

I believe that's the kind of relationship he wants with all of us. The beloved woman in the Song of Solomon states (7:11) "Come, my beloved, let us go forth to the field; let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine has budded, whether the rape blossoms are open, and the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love."

At the end of the book (Song of Solomon 8:14), she says, "Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices." Now, she's not talking about real mountains here. She's talking about something much more intimate.

As woman (and men too), we are called meant to love the Lord and be in communion with him - to be so intimately linked that there is no separation between us.

That is our future. We can begin our communion with the Lord here on earth, but the fulfillment of this call can't occur until the Lord returns.