For the last week, Nancy Leigh DeMoss of Revive Our Hearts has been doing a wonderful series called A Vision for Biblical Womanhood. Nancy has unashamedly discussed what the Bible says about men’s and women’s roles in the home, and confronted the complementarian and egalitarian views of men’s and woman’s roles. Today she discussed a woman’s role in her church. I love how she holds fast to what the Word of God says while being very loving and humble as she states her thoughts. The series is still continuing, and I urge you to listen to it on the radio or either at the Revive Our Hearts website. It is free to read or listen to all the past archives of her radio show back to 2001!

Here are just a few of the fabulous thoughts shared:

I began to see my womanhood not as a burden, but as a blessing, as a gift, as something to be received and embraced. I began to see that my womanhood is a means by which I can glorify God. It’s a means by which I can reflect His image. It’s a means by which I can experience true freedom and fullness and fruitfulness as a child of God.

Men and women are equally important to God, equally valuable to God. You’ll never find the Scripture belittling women. You’ll never find the Scripture demeaning women. And you won’t find the Scripture belittling or demeaning men either. You find the Scripture giving value and worth and significance to men and women, created in the image of God.

Those differences in the home and in the church between the masculine and feminine function enable us as men and women to complement one another, to complete one another.

You know that the Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—are co-equal. They are all equal with each other. They are co-equal in all their attributes; yet there are essential differences between the three persons of the Trinity.

One is not more important than the others. One is not less important than the others, but they have different roles. They’re equal in their value and in their worth, but they have different functions.

So the fact that there are distinctions between male and female roles and responsibilities in the home and in the church is a noble concept. It’s a beautiful concept. It’s something that’s good.

Let me show you what I mean by that. For example, the husband is given the responsibility to provide for his wife loving, humble, thoughtful leadership, headship, direction, authority. But on the one end he’s not to be harsh or abusive or domineering. On the other end he’s not to be passive or lazy. He’s to be actively involved in providing loving, humble, thoughtful leadership to his wife and family.

And then we have the wife. She is called to give active, intelligent, joyful submission to her husband’s leadership. That steers clear of both of the extremes on either side. It doesn’t mean that she, on one side, has the sins of aggressiveness by domineering or belittling her husband or usurping his authority. Those would be sins of aggressiveness that wives might commit.

On the other end she isn’t guilty of sins of passivity. What would those be? She’s not a passive robot who never speaks up, never participates in the decision-making process, never challenges her husband if he is wrong. “Yes dear. Whatever you say, dear.” That’s not what we’re talking about here.

The Lord put on my heart ten years ago to make him sorry he had to leave in the morning and glad to come home. I want to greet him with a smile and a glass of iced tea for him. That’s his preference. I want him to be so glad to come home that it’s a refuge. -Maria Johnson

(This program was from Wednesday, January 30th. It was so good that I had to print it to keep. Christian women, including a pastor’s wife, shared how they almost drove away their husbands by the way they treated them and tried to be more spiritual than them. It will make you weep as you hear their brokenness.)

Regarding women’s roles in the church and in ministry, Nancy shared how she struggled with the standards of the Word of God and with what her emotions were telling her.

I want to tell you honestly that this is a Scriptural teaching that at times has been difficult for me. I’m a single woman. I’m in ministry. I love teaching the Word of God. I have leadership gifts. And there have been times when my emotions have bristled against what my theology told me was true, based on God’s Word.

So this is not something that has always been easy for me to accept. What I do have to do is obey. I need to bow to the authority of Scripture and say, “Lord, if there is some area where You do not want me to serve You or to use my gifts, You’re God and I’m not.” Ultimately, for me it comes down to an issue of surrender to the lordship of Christ and the authority of Scripture.

Now, let me say that only God can extend the call to ministry. But we don’t have the right to tamper with whom He chooses and whom He calls. The calling of God in your life or mine will never be contrary to the Word of God.

That doesn’t mean that women don’t have teaching and leading gifts. Many of them do. Some of you have those kinds of gifts. All it means is that our gifts as women—and men’s gifts as well—must always be used within the guidelines and the confines of Scripture.

What it comes down to is: Does God have the right to say how He wants His church to be run? And it comes down to a confidence that God’s ways are good, that God’s ways are right, and that God’s ways bring blessing.

A Vision for Biblical Womanhood series starts here. Nancy also had a 3-day series on abortion. If you are hurting from abortion in any way, the series will bless you deeply. Ten Fingers, Ten Toes, and a Beating Heart: An Interview with Nancy Lincoln

Posted under Biblical Womanhood, Christianity, Encouraging Quotes, The Family
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Posted under Biblical Womanhood, Encouraging Quotes, The Family
[2] Comments 

Last week a friend loaned me The Return of the Daughters DVD. I had wanted to watch it for some time and was so thrilled to get a chance to see it.

The Return of the Daughters is a documentary discussing how many Christian daughters are rejecting the normal expectation to leave home in order to attend college or to pursue independent pursuits after completing high school. These girls are electing to stay home and serve their fathers, to further his ministry or occupation, while preparing to be homemakers in their own homes someday. The term “serve” may be offensive to some, but it is not a negative term. Just as a public official is serving his community, a daughter can serve to bless her home and others by remaining at home after high school.

First of all, the documentary was very professionally made. The cinematography was excellent and the music beautiful. The film was hosted by the Botkin sisters, co-authors of So Much More. These sisters are very smart, professional, and articulate. The film interviews several young ladies and their family members regarding how they came to their decision for the daughter to stay home during her years before marriage. The daughters were extremely talented and intelligient. These families represented several different situations, which was refreshing. After watching the first interview, I was afraid that everyone else would be well-to-do, but that was not the case. There were daughters featured whose fathers had businesses or ministries in which the daughters could assist. There were also daughters whose fathers did not have a business or ministry, yet these families demonstrated how the principle of staying home was fleshed out in their situations. One young lady spent her time helping everyone she could in her church, as well as mentoring the teenage girls coming behind her. One girl had a home business in keeping with the Proverbs 31 woman. Each situation was beautiful to see!

The film makes its case beautifully in many ways and by many arguments as to the reasons why a daughter may want to remain with her family during these years. One reason is that for hundreds of years, daughters always remained home with their families until marriage. They were much safer there and could help their families in multitudes of ways. They could prepare themselves for their own home one day. Even if they never married, they would still probably have their own home to keep some day. Another reason given is that it makes more sense for a child to help their fathers succeed rather than help a complete stranger become wealthy. How beautiful it is to see families work together for the common good!

I loved this documentary; it echoed so many thoughts and convictions that I have had for my own three daughters for many years. I became a born-again Christian around age 7 and have been very active in church since then. In all those years, both in church and in a Christian school for 4 years, I never remember being told about Titus 2 and Proverbs 31. These Scriptures were so foreign to me when I married. We were constantly being counseled to go to a Christian college and to find the career path that God wanted for us. It was not discussed that the Bible says that Christian women are to “guard the home” (I Timothy 5:14), to “look well to the ways of her household” (Proverbs 31:27), and to be “keepers at home” (Titus 2:3-5). I started going my present church 2 1/2 years ago, where it is consistently taught what God’s plan of ministry is for women. It is such a joy to be in a place that holds to the Bible in this area. I believe it is vital because a godly wife/mother shapes the Christian home, the church, and the nation. There is no greater impact she could have on this world and for the Kingdom of God! NONE! Proverbs 31:29 says it best: “Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all” (emphasis mine).

I need to state that I don’t believe that a college education for daughters is sinful. I think furthering one’s education should continue for all of life whether through college or teaching yourself through the multitude of learning opportunities we have today. However, I do think that Christian parents should think twice and very seriously about sending their daughters out of town, where they cannot watch after them. (After all, no one will watch after your child like you will.) Even in a Christian college, you are relinquishing everything about your daughter’s life to that college, including their safety. There is also the issue of the high price of colleges. It makes no sense to run up huge debts for college expenses which make the daughter almost have to leave her children in order to pay them back, or forces the daughter’s mother into work to pay for her college. Just because it is considered the norm to send children away to colleges, make sure it’s God’s will. Be willing to seek HIM and obey HIM no matter what the cost.

There are so many ways that daughters serving their families can manifest itself in each home. In a single mother’s home like mine, the daughters could help their mother’s home businesses. In any home daughters could attend local college or college through the internet, so that they remain under their parents’ oversight and not run up huge debts. Daughters can minister freely to members of their church before the responsibility of their own homes makes it hard, if not impossible. So many elderly people need to be visited, new or harried mothers need assistance, and the sick needs meals brought to them and chores done.

There are those who vehemently disagree with the concepts shared in the film. I would like to ask, What is more biblical, sending your daughters to the wolves of this world as Bro. Voddie Baucham argues in this film, or preparing her for her future home that the Bible says she is responsible for? Sending them to someone else’s authority or allowing them to minister in their church? Are you willing to seek His will and obey it no matter what the culture dictates to us is normal?

There are also a lot of women concerned with “What if my daughter ends up widowed or divorce? How can she care for herself and her family without a college education?” As a single mother I can testify, and so many other single mothers I know will agree, that God will make a way. He will provide for her first through you, then through other Christians, and perhaps through a home business. I think it’s a wise thing to teach a daughter something she can use to earn money from home, whether she is married or ends up single again. This can be taught through college or apprenticeship. Even if she becomes single again through death or divorce, it does not negate the responsibility that God has given a woman in the home. In fact, children will need their mother more in those situations.

I highly recommend The Return of the Daughters. You may not agree with this film and its concepts, but if you have a receptive heart, it will give you something to pray about and to search the Scriptures for.

Posted under Biblical Womanhood, Christianity, Homemaking, Mothering, Movie Reviews, Single Mothers, The Family
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