Modern Women: Submitting and Serving?

Posted By Tiffany on March 7, 2011

Nobody wants to be a slave. Nobody grows up aspiring to be a servant. In independent, me-centered America, all the coveted positions are on top.

Words like “slave” and “servant” have negative connotations that make us think “low-class,” “subjugation,” and, in many cases, injustice or infringement of rights. Not surprising, then, is the fact that many women look distastefully on the idea of giving their time and energy to “serving” a husband. The very phrase is no doubt turning off many of you even as you read this.

Just mention the idea that a woman should be at the door to greet her husband, with children in tow and dinner on the table, and you’ll instantly have women up in arms saying you’re stuck in the 1950s or have a primitive mind capable of no real critical thought (or as one woman attacking my blog on a message board said, “When I get home, I tell my husband to go to the fridge and get ME what I want”).

Now, I’m not saying that women have to do those specific things–I’m just saying that the response to such a suggestion reveals that the modern woman’s heart is nowhere near to that of a servant’s.

For those who are not a part of the Christian faith, having this reaction is not only understandable, but also a fitting conclusion, considering your worldview. This post makes no attempt to argue the case for servanthood with those of you outside the Christian faith. However, for modern women who consider themselves a part of the Christian faith, this all too common reaction should be alarming. Are we really so prideful that the very suggestion that we take a humble and serving attitude towards our husbands instantly unbridles our tongues and sets our anger blazing?

Do we not realize that Sarah called Abraham “master?”  That Eve was created specifically as Adam’s “helper?” That man was not made for woman, but that woman was made for man? That the Bible specifically calls us the “weaker partner?”

If we don’t, then we are either not reading our Bibles, or we have let culture influence us to the point where we would rather explain away these “pesky woman passages” by casting aside Biblical inerrancy so we can maintain our pride and sense of entitlement. But the fact of the matter is that verses like these are part of the Biblical portrait of what a woman is, and if we challenge them on the basis of cultural relativity or “Paul’s personal prejudice against women” then we can challenge any other statement in the Bible, and our faith becomes a personal–and, dare I say it– ridiculous fabrication of pick-and-choose “religion,”  founded on the whims of human opinion rather than on every Word that proceeds from the Father’s mouth.

Read more -->HERE.

LEGALISM--WHAT IT IS & WHAT IT IS NOT

What is legalism? The charge of legalism is so carelessly flung around today that people have no idea what the term means. It’s become a catch phrase to write off any church that isdoctrinal—a word also much of an embarrassment to people today.

There are three ways this term is being misapplied and abused to attack churches that have remained confessionally Protestant.

First, churches that are serious today are characterized as legalistic. In fact, any church that is serious or formal anymore will “stand out like an organ stop” (quoting David Wells) and be labeled as those who are joyless and legalistic. People are equating legalism with formality, as if freedom means casualness before God. I'm reminded of the Lord's complaint against Israel,

For My people are foolish, They have not known Me. They are silly children, And they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, But to do good they have no knowledge." (Jer 4:22)

Just before israel impending judgment for apostasy, the Lord tells us that the worship became full of sheer "siliness". No word could better capture the feel of today's worship than siliness. We have forgotten the Lord's warning, "By those who come near to me, I must be regarded as holy."

Second, legalism is being carelessly used to attack people’s liberty. I have noticed the reverse problem of striking at a brother’s liberty because he wants to, for example, offer his first-fruits in the way that he dresses or looks. "They make all their people dress a certain way at that church.” Broad characterizations and generalizations are made this way and lumped together as a “legalistic” when, in fact, practices of people are often birthed out of genuine gratitude for the grace given. In other words, marketing mega churches keep kicking the traditional churches as legalistic in matters of Christian liberty—they wear ties, they sing out of a song book, etc.

Read more -->HERE.

Meaning of Marriage (Quote)

"Within this Christian vision for marriage, here's what it means to fall in love. It is to look to another person and get a glimpse of the person God is creating and say, 'I see who God is making you, and it excites me! I want to be part of that. I stand to partner with you and God in the journey you are taking to his throne. And when we get there, I will look at your magnificence and say, "I always knew you could be like this. I got glimpses of it on earth, but now look at you! Each spouse should see the great thing that Jesus is doing in the life of their mate through the Word, the gospel. Each spouse then should give him- or herself to be a vehicle for that work and envision the day that you will stand together before God, seeing each other presented in spotless beauty and glory." -Keller, "The Meaning of Marriage"

This was a quote I saw on several FB walls....and thought it quite appropriate and inspiring.  May Father bless those who are married with this sentiment and thought of their partner.  If single, may He bless you with a future mate that you can say/think this about. ~ Melissa