Prodigal: Hi I just saw this and thought of you. Are you GRITS?
Me: You better believe I am a Girl Raised In The South!
Prodigal: I think it might have been the accent that gave it away. What is so special about Girls raised in the South anyway?
Me: Everything is special about it! Instead of focusing on the blessing of a true southern belle though I would rather talk about women roles with what the bible says.
Prodigal: The bible talks about that?
Me: Of course it does and there can be a negative view point about it. I would like to explain.
Prodigal: I am ready to listen.
Of the different roles that are talked about with women in the bible the most common used and known of is the idea of submission. This one word has received strong emotions from pure negative outrage to someone defending their role in life. The first thing I would like to clear up though is that submission does not mean passive. Anyone who knows me and has been around me knows that being passive is not a strong point of mine.
Can a woman though be of strong character and yet be submissive as a wife? I think the biggest lie out there is that submissive means that we do not have opinions and we cannot be strong in nature. So what you see is two extremes. The woman who is passive and never stands up for her self about anything. The other side is that woman who turns against submission so that she becomes aggressive. What is needed is a healthy balance between the two of them. Michael Catt a Christian therapist who seems to be able to explain the balance that God has encouraged.
In counseling couples, I’ve also seen some husbands who consider their wives nothing more than cooks and maids. They misuse their authority by bossing their wives around and acting like “submit” is the only word in the Bible. This can easily degenerate into an abusive situation in which the man acts like a dictator.
“Wives, submit” does not mean “husbands, dominate.” God did not create Eve from Adam’s feet to be trampled upon, nor from his head to rule over him. he made her from Adam’s side, the nearest place to his heart, to be his helpmate and companion.
Healthy marriages model a right understanding of submission. A husband is to nourish and strengthen his wife as a leader among equals, and both are to submit to the Lord. As Christ leads and loves the church, so the husband is to lead and love his wife. I’ve never met a woman whose husband loved her as Christ loves the church who opposed the idea of loving submission.
When our relationships mimic the blue print that God has set forth in his written word it is then that we see a change in those relationships. We see God enter in. We cannot do that though if we are stuck with a blue print that means we are too passive or we become aggressive against submission. Ask God in prayer right now, with the start of the week and new year, what needs to be changed in your relationships!
1 Corinthians 13:8
Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
