Yesterday was International Women’s Day. It is an interesting thing that we need to celebrate a day like this. Unfortunately, history has marginalized and even dehumanized women. In this modern era, our culture is still trying to figure out how to celebrate women in an honorable way. I don’t think any culture or earthly kingdom will ever get it right. Thankfully, we can be part of a Heavenly Kingdom that gets the true value and beauty of women.
Galatians 3:28 says, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Contrary to what many believe, the message of the Bible gives great value to women. Jesus himself reached out to women. In John 4, Jesus meets a woman at a well. He asked her for a drink and he conversed with her. This was so unusual for a man in that day that the Bible says the disciples were surprised to find Jesus talking with a woman when they returned from town. Yet, they did not dare to question him on what he was doing. In another instance, the Pharisees brought a woman caught in the act of adultery before Jesus. The Pharisees wanted to stone the woman for her sin, but Jesus showed her mercy. Never do we see Jesus teach a whole sermon on the value of women or the equality of women to men, but I believe he does something more powerful. Jesus, through his actions and intentions, validates women in the midst of a culture that had considered women “less than”. That takes real care and compassion. It is so different from our culture’s attempt to make awareness days and hold protests.
Sadly, the world still often perceives women to be marginalized in the church as well. It is true that the church has often allowed culture’s view of women invade the church, rather than Jesus’ view of women to invade our churches and then our culture. Lord, forgive us for not valuing women like you showed us to. The good news is that we can start now. We can repent, like we did above, and start today to follow Jesus' example. To clarify a few things: 1) Some churches/people have done a great job of valuing women. 2) I am not encouraging a feminist movement in the church or supporting the feminist movement in the world. 3) This is not about putting a woman in the pulpit on Sunday mornings to prove that we support equality of women or women in ministry. 4) All through history, women have defied culture, and believed what God said about them instead. As women, this is where we should desire to be. Forget what the world says about you and take your rightful place in the Kingdom. Jesus has already made the way for you. Learn what Jesus says about you as a woman in the Kingdom of God, and if you are married, be obedient to the commands of God regarding the role of a wife.
The Bible says that in the last days, God will pour out his spirit on ALL flesh, male and female. We need to be willing and able to recognize Jesus in any vessel that he chooses to use, man or woman. It was 8 years ago that I accepted God’s call on my life to do ministry. At the time, I was going to college to be a math teacher, and I didn’t feel called to change that course, so I figured I was going to marry a pastor. In less than a month, I met my husband John, who was in fact training to be a pastor. I graduated college and started teaching math in a middle school. The whole school year I was so restless, and I began to sense God leading me in a different direction. Specifically, I felt God calling me to speak – to teach his word. He confirmed this call in several ways, and I began to realize that God had a ministry in mind for me too, and I should not rely on my husband’s ministry to fulfill the call on my own life. Since then, I started rearranging my life in order to see God’s plan become a reality. Today, I work for a women’s ministry and just this year, I have launched the ministry that God called me to – Full Light Ministries – based off of Proverbs 4:18, which says “the path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter until the full light of day.”
God wants to see his church live the full lives that he has made available to us, men and women. Are you willing to defy culture’s boundaries and embrace God’s unlimited ability to do exceedingly abundantly more than all we could ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20-21)? I want to live that life, don’t you?