Womanhood: What God Says About It
For my first Daughters of Sarah post, I decided to talk about the foundation of womanhood; the fact that women were created by God different from but complementary to men. I am a woman. That means by definition, I am not a man. It sounds simplistic, yet it is a fact that is often blatantly ignored in today’s culture. As a Christian, I am called to be a certain kind of woman. Elisabeth Elliot writes in her excellent book Let Me Be a Woman
:
: “We are called to be women. The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian, but the fact that I am a Christian does make me a different kind of woman. For I have accepted God’s idea of me, and my whole life is an offering back to Him of all that I am and all that He wants me to be.”
God has a particular idea of what a woman should be. We find part of God’s idea of womanhood described in I Peter 3:1-6:
Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands;
that, if any obey not the word,
they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;
While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.
Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning
of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold,
or of putting on of apparel;
But let it be the hidden man of the heart,
in that which is not corruptible,
even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit,
which is in the sight of God of great price.
For after this manner in the old time the holy women also,
who trusted in God, adorned themselves,
being in subjection unto their own husbands:
Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord;
whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well,
and are not afraid with any amazement.
that, if any obey not the word,
they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;
While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.
Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning
of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold,
or of putting on of apparel;
But let it be the hidden man of the heart,
in that which is not corruptible,
even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit,
which is in the sight of God of great price.
For after this manner in the old time the holy women also,
who trusted in God, adorned themselves,
being in subjection unto their own husbands:
Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord;
whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well,
and are not afraid with any amazement.
As Christian women, we have the privilege of claiming these verses for our own. God leaves no woman out of His plan. He has a woman’s life planned for us, not a man’s life. When we try to reinvent womanhood, we turn God’s beautiful, perfect plan into something perverted and ugly. For a very clear and insightful description of the differences between manhood and womanhood I now turn to Hannah More, a Christian woman and author who lived in the 1700′s.
“She (Hannah More) hopes they will not be offended if she has occasionally pointed out certain qualities, and suggested certain tempers, and dispositions, as peculiarly feminine, and hazarded some observations which naturally arose from the subject, on the different characters which mark the sexes. And here again she takes the liberty to repeat that these distinctions cannot be too nicely maintained; for besides those important qualities common to both, each sex has its respective, appropriated qualifications, which would cease to be meritorious, the instant they ceased to be appropriated. Nature, propriety, and custom have prescribed certain bounds to each; bounds which the prudent and the candid will never attempt to break down; and indeed it would be highly impolitic to annihilate distinctions from which each acquires excellence, and to attempt innovations, by which both would be losers.” (Essays Principally Designed for Young Ladies by Hannah More)
Godly womanhood is not old-fashioned. It is a calling for every Christian woman in every generation. Let’s honor God’s plan for womanhood and return it to its vital role in the Body of Christ.
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November 12th, 2008 - 10:06 am
Thank you for the invitation. I often need help in this area of feminity. What exactly does this look like for the christian woman I want to be today. How does this bring Glory to the LORD in my life? Being contacted like this I pray I will become stronger in Lord’s ability to make known to me these truths. Grateful, Christie
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November 12th, 2008 - 7:33 pm
Sounds like a neat idea, you’re welcome to post a blurb each Wednesday on FF linking to you so others will visit.
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November 12th, 2008 - 7:35 pm
@APonderingHeart - OK, that’s a good idea!
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November 13th, 2008 - 5:05 pm
What a very interesting idea! I am not perfect though I warn you now. I truly and deeply believe in what the bible tells us but my kids are not wearing garments that look like they were made in 1800 and I have never owed a jumper-not even in the 80′.
But do try very hard to follow God’s standards while living in a modern world.
I love the idea of this because I try very hard to expose my daughter to women who are both following God’s word and are also strong and smart and equally worthy of God’s love. And this would give me a place to find many of you at once.
Leticia
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October 4th, 2009 - 10:49 pm
Please help me with the link above I would like to put it on my blog Sheperdsfold my pass word is master. I hope that helps you to help me. God Bless Christie
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October 5th, 2009 - 12:46 am
@Shepherdsfold - To put it in a blog post, just copy the code, click on the “edit html” button in the top right-hand corner of the weblog editor, and paste the code in the location you want it. Then click “edit html” again and you should be able to see it in your post. To put it in your sidebar, I’m not quite sure how to do that with themes. I think you have to add a module for links. In the “old” system I use, you can paste code in any of the modules in your “look & feel”. I hope this helps! Please feel free to ask any more questions, I’ve used Xanga for a while and have figured a few things out
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October 5th, 2009 - 10:22 am
@A_Sweet_Fragrance - Oh, thankyou it worked i thank you so very much. Christie
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