The battle over the home is a never ending one. Feminism has effectively walked right into the Church and made herself comfortable in the front pew, and has even taken up residence is Christian homes.Men have been emasculated by feminism as they are no longer allowed nor wanted in their God appointed places as Pastor of the Church, or Head of the home. There has been a role reversal since the Woman’s Suffrage Movement, and now men are the “stay at home parent” and the woman is now “the one who wears the pants”. Does anyone else see the problem with this?
When God created man and woman, He created them with distinct roles and duties that were specific to their gender. When Adam and Eve sinned, and were exiled from the Garden of Eden, their gender roles were not changed, only complicated by their own rebellion against God. Now, Adam would have to work the ground in order to provide for His family, and Eve would experience pain during birth and her desire would be to rule over her husband, yet she was commanded to submit to him. Before the fall, all these things worked in perfect harmony according to God’s perfect design. However, our sin has now added a twist in that we are incapable of obeying God without His allowance for it.
As Christian women who profess to be under the grace of God, we now have the ability to serve God in the manner we were initially created to.This does not mean we cease sinning; we are still in our corruptible flesh and in a fallen world, but we have been extended grace that we may Glorify God. (Life is not about me) This means as we “study to show ourselves approved” and examine or test ourselves as to whether we are in the faith, we will learn exactly what pleases God and what does not please Him, and act accordingly.
Everything boils down to two categories, that which pleases God and that which does not please God. With each decision we make, with each thought we think, it will either please God or not please God.When it comes to the roles of the female gender, God has given specific guidelines as to how we are to operate in order to please Him and bring Glory to His name.
Titus 2:4-5 really sums up what a God fearing woman should be doing with her entire life (not just a season of it):
“…and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, andsubmissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.”
The older women are to be “doing” this training, which would prove they themselves have had the same training. The line of logic would then go that when they are older they will be training younger women in how to fulfill their God designed roles. What this verse also implies is that younger women are responsible for knowing these blessed Truths and carrying them out in order that one day they might teach them to a younger generation. Titus 2:5 tells us that should we NOT do these things, we have reviled the word of God. The word literally used in the Greek is “blasphemed” which literally means “to vilify”, “to speak impiously”, “defame”, “revile”, or “speak evil”.
Those are very harsh words. To not “love our husbands and children, be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to our own husbands” is to vilify, speak impiously of, defame, revile and speak evil of the word of God. Whoa!
I don’t think there are any debates on the “loving our husbands and children” part. And I think we can all agree that we need to be self-controlled, pure, kind, and submissive to our own husbands. However, I wonder how many of us just roll right over the “working at home” part of that verse.
How many Christian women try very hard to justify why they are working outside of their homes, while their children are placed in the care of a babysitter, another family member, a daycare or government run institution? How many families are so used to having two incomes that the very thought of the wife returning home causes strife not only in their home but in the marriage? Is this Biblical? It is not.
We have become a culture so fooled and blinded by the works of the enemy that we will object to this part of scripture when it is brought to our attention. We are also a generation who hates correction and reproof. God’s Word says this:
“Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, But he who hates reproof is stupid.” Proverbs 12:1 (NASB)
Do you love discipline? Do you love when another Christian comes to you and shows you through God’s word that you are in sin and blaspheming the Word of God?
Think on that for a moment….
Those who love God will also love His word. Those who love the Lord will desire to be obedient to His commands no matter how unpopular they are culturally. Those who love God and KNOW Him will bear good fruit. Those who Love God and know Him WILL persevere.
Those who do not know God, or love Him, will hate reproof and God calls them “stupid”. Whoa! Ouch! Those who claim to know God, and hate reproof God calls them “stupid”. I think we get the general point now.
Nothing God does, creates, or commands is done arbitrarily. He has a purpose and it is ultimately to Glorify Himself. When we approach His word it should also not be done arbitrarily or with some self serving motive in mind; but it should be done in order to evaluate our positions in relation to God’s inerrant word. If we find that our positions or our practices are not consistent with God’s commands, then we are to change. We are not to seek justification through some “mythical” loophole by mishandling God’s word. This is done by employing Eisegesis (artificially planting meaning into the text) instead of Exegesis (withdrawing the natural meaning from the text) of scripture.
We are instructed to “Study to show thyself approved” (2 Timothy 2:15). This means we are to study God’s word in order to 1) know God (His character and nature and what He commands of us) and 2) so that we can show ourselves approved unto God. We take God at His word and apply it to our lives in order to bear witness as to “Who” we serve, lest we “blaspheme” God’s Word. Pretty heavy stuff.
What does this mean about “working outside of the home”? It means that Christian women should make their husband, children and their homes the number one priority as to bring Glory to God. Since the Industrial Revolution, women have been a fixture in the work place. We can all come up with just about any excuse for why it is “allowable” for women to work outside of the home. These “allowances” are often if not always defended simply by culturally accepted practices and not based on a Biblical justification.
***I do understand there are single mothers who find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place. I am ashamed of the Church as a whole for allowing, condoning and even furthering these women’s need to be in the work place. In such cases, as they are made known to a Christian congregation or individual, there needs to be every step taken to afford single mothers the ability to go home and raise their children as God commands of them by the church fostering/adopting these families. However, what I see happening all too often are individual Christians being made aware of such circumstances and willfully denying aid (if available) by claiming it is the local churches responsibility, not their own personal responsibility. To those persons I say “shame on you for you have effectively abandoned the faith and made a mockery out of Jesus Christ”. ***
Most commonly, however, women who are in the work force are there by choice. Families, even large families can live off of one salary. The husband does not have to be a millionaire in order for this to happen. If the older women were trained properly in the area of home management, which would also include financial management, and they are obedient in teaching the younger women, then all women would know how to be a good steward of the income her husband brings home.
It is a pathetic thing to hear women justify working outside of the home because they need the double income to make ends meet. What are these “ends” we are so desperately trying to meet? It is status. The kind of status that tells the outside world, we have two cars (we can’t afford), a house (we can’t afford), credit cards (we can’t afford), and other luxuries (we can’t afford). It appears that no one ever really learns to “live under their means”. Everyone is always striving for that bigger piece of pie out of a grossly inflated sense of entitlement; which is the “American Dream”. What about ultimately striving for the Kingdom of God? Did we forget about that?
When women embrace joyfully their God given place (which is an honorable one because God deems it so) at home to love and care for their own husbands, it brings Glory to God. When women embrace their God created place in the home to bear, love and nurture children in the ways of the Lord, they bring Glory to God. When older women take God’s instruction seriously to teach the younger women to love their husbands and children, be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands, they Glory God. However, when women reject these instructions from God, they effectively “vilify”, “speak impiously”, “defame”, “revile”, and “speak evil” of the Word of God.
This is not just a current issue, but one that needed to be addressed during the Apostle Paul’s time. This is why he wrote Titus and 2 Timothy and specifically included instruction for women who claimed to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. It had to be said so that all would know and be without excuse. Those who refused to submit to God’s word and His design for each gender were known immediately by how they lived their lives.
If we claim to be Christian women, and profess with our mouths to the world that we have a desire to live our lives for His Glory, then we will humbly, fearfully and joyfully embrace the work the Lord has ordained us to accomplish in HIS name. We will die to ourselves daily and in the process through the work of the Holy Spirit become more and more like Christ, losing ourselves in the process. Our own selfish ambitions and sinful desires will have to die as we run hard after the Lord and trust that He will finish the work He began in us (Philippians 1:6).
No matter which direction the culture takes and what our society deems “acceptable”, we should always examine all positions and ideologies with the Word of God. It is the only source of true knowledge and wisdom. God has made His character, nature and His commands very clear to us, and we are all without excuse. When we willfully disregard God’s instructions to us on how to live our lives, then we are deliberately mocking God and the work Christ accomplished on the cross.
Each one of us should constantly be “examining ourselves to see if we are in the faith” (2 Corinthians 13:5) and “studying to show ourselves approved unto God” (2 Timothy 2:15). There are no situations in our life that God does not have a position on how we are to act or react. What we do, say and think will either please God or displease Him. God does not take a neutral position on anything. As a Christian who has been saved by the awesome Grace and Mercy of a Holy, Just and Righteous God, we should long to please Him and bring Glory and Honor to His name.
God has made His position crystal clear on the subject/debate of Christian women (single, wives, and/or mothers –whether married or single) working outside of the home. Search His word and find out for yourself. God’s word will not contradict itself or His nature. If we approach God’s word with an unbiblical position and seek to find justification for it within scripture, then we are mishandling the Holy Word of God and should be ashamed and repent.
We are held accountable for what we do within our sphere of influence.If we know of a Christian single mother within our immediate sphere, then we are to extend our home to her, our resources to her and make it possible for her to be a “worker at home” so that she can raise her own children as she is commanded to. Our homes are not our own, they belong to the Lord to be used for His purposes and His glory. Let us never be so arrogant and selfish that we will not make every effort possible to help single mothers and widows. It is a shameful thing when individual Christians refuse to be the hands and feet of Christ.
Christian women who work outside of the home; which effectively abandons their God given responsibilities (primarily to be submissive to their “own” husband and caring for their children; if older and without children at home, they should dedicate themselves to serving God by teaching the younger women) do not please God. A Church and all its members who do not make every effort to afford single mothers and widows the ability to comfortably stay home with their families as God has commanded them to, displease God and make a mockery of the faith.
More to come on this topic….
Serving God and My Family,
Crystal <>< (SAHM)
Original Post at:http://servinggodandfamily.blogspot.com/2009/08/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none_27.html
No comments:
Post a Comment