Steve and I have begun a study of 1 Timothy in our daily devotion time. Yesterday we began to read the second chapter and remained there today. As we read, we quickly came to a passage that may not be very popular with today’s “modern” woman. This brought about a good conversation about God’s idea of authority and the way in which He created our lives to be ordered.
Many women don’t even want to THINK about the Biblical model of authority and submission. It is commonly believed that to be submissive is to be a “doormat”, to have no “say” in what happens, to be dominated by someone else. Many people, not just women, openly rebel against any kind of authority. Wow! What a distorted, absolutely opposite view of the reality of God’s intention for authority and submission! Any woman who has experienced the true reality of God’s “umbrella of authority” that is spelled out in His Word will testify to the fact that it is the most wonderful way to live life.
When a woman understands that God created us VERY DIFFERENT than men she will praise His Holy Name for that difference!! The world tells women today that we should be totally independent and self sufficient even within our marriages. The idea is that we are equal to a man in every way and should not subject ourselves to anyone. Well, the truth is we ARE equal but we also are different. There is no man who is more important to God than any woman. He loves us each as individuals regardless of our sex. He created each of us so wonderfully, intricately individual that none of us is exactly the same as anyone else. He places no preferences according to sex. If we belong to Jesus, we are equal in His sight to all other believers no matter man or woman.
When God created Adam, He gave him a whole different set of characteristics than he gave to Eve. This is simply the truth. God created men to be the leaders of this world. He gave them the responsibility of working and caring for His creation. He gave men a certain set of thinking and reasoning skills and tendencies that are different, but NOT superior to those that he gave women. God created women to help, encourage and support the work of men. He gave us the awesome gift and responsibility of bearing and raising children. We women think, react and make our decisions using a whole different, but NOT inferior set of thinking and reasoning skills.
Like it or not, ladies, God created us to NEED authority. As a little girl I found safety, comfort, peace, love and strength in the authority of my daddy. As the wife of a wonderfully Godly man, I again find safety, comfort, peace, love and strength in the authority of my husband. God has given the responsibility to my husband of being “in charge” of our household. That, in no way, means that I am dominated by him! I am completely free to speak my mind, state my opinions and, yes, even make my own decisions, if that is what I really want to do. BUT, I DON”T WANT TO make the decisions! I feel such a freedom from the burden of final decisions!! I was not created to be “in charge”. Let’s look at an example from Genesis.
We all know the story of Eve and the forbidden fruit. She was tempted by Satan, gave in to that temptation and ate of the fruit that God had specifically pointed out to her and Adam as being “off limits”. Now first of all, why was Eve in a position to have a private conversation with the devil? Somehow, she found herself alone in a place where she did not need to be. I am not saying that I never go anywhere without Steve, but I need to be very careful about WHERE I go when I am alone. Then there is the fact that she was talking with someone she should not have been talking to at all, much less when she was alone. When the conversation started going in the wrong direction…as in the devil calling God a liar about what would happen if she ate the fruit, she seemed to not put much logical thought into agreeing with him. She should have turned and run away. Instead she acted on emotion. She saw the fruit as beautiful, “a delight to the eyes, good for food”, etc. And so she took the fruit and ate it. Now what do you think would have happened if she had said, “You know, Satan, this just does not sound right to me. I need to discuss this with Adam and see what he thinks before I make a decision”?
When women submit to a Godly husband there will be wisdom from God given for the decisions. We will be far less likely to fall into sin or get into trouble. We will live in the peace, comfort, strength and joy that comes with Godly order in our lives.
This is only the tip of the iceberg for discussion of authority and submission in a Godly family. I hope to address more aspects in coming posts. This is just what was on my heart today and I hope it will spark some discussion amongst Godly women.
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus"
Romans 8:1
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