So I just finished up week 1 of the new Bible Study. Some of my favorite ladies are doing it with me (they're all related to me!), so I'm excited to learn and grow together with them. If anyone else out there wants to join us feel free to contact me!
So, this week we learned that in the beginning, God created male and female, and that he created them both in his image. He could have created just one gender, but he chose to create two. As Genesis 1:27 says,
"God created man in His own image,
in the image of God He created him;
male and female He created them."
When
he looked over his creation of male and female, he stated that it was
"very good," indicating that he carried out his perfect design just as
he intended, with full knowledge of the sin that would soon enter their
hearts.
When we study and see that "man" actually refers to both sexes,
we see that both were created "in his image" and that he values both
equally. We are created to fulfill different roles and have
different attributes to contribute to our differing roles, but together,
we reflect the relationship between Father and Son, and Son and Church.
And that is our ultimate responsibility: to display Christ. That is what God, the Creator ultimately made us to do-to bring him glory and to point others to His powerful redemptive plan.
Male or female, that is our ultimate purpose. We
are not free to define gender however we wish-because God created male and
female in his image for a very specific purpose. Individually we reflect
his characteristics, and together we reflect his redemption plan. We
are loved equally, so there's no reason to try and promote one over the
other, and we are both heirs and free to his receive his grace.
We ARE created equal. When it comes to God's love, God's redemption story and his grace, we are equally eligible. Male or female, He loves us equally. He values us equally.
It's easy to look at our world and see
the destruction that going against God's plan has caused. If we would only embrace God's design for
our respective genders, we would certainly begin to "turn the world
upside down!" Women would stop looking to worldly influences to define
their worth and realize that they have been full of worth since the
moment they were created. Our lives would change. Our families would
change. Our whole perspective would change.
For me, it's a matter of rejecting and replacing all
the ideas that the world has instilled, about beauty lying in our
physical appearance and accepting that my worth does not come from what I
look like, what I have or don't have, how organized and on top of
things I am or what others think of me. The idea that it's my
responsibility to bear the image of God is something I think I know but
do not always think about or practice.
You may not agree with God's design for womanhood, but that doesn't change the fact that he created and designed you for a purpose. If we don't understand the reason he created us, how will we
ever find ultimate fulfillment by embracing our purpose? Understanding
that my "womanhood is ultimately not about me, but about displaying the
glory of God & His powerful redemptive plan" really changes my
perspective and how I spend my time. It also changes my attitude. Life
is not all about me and getting what I want out of it. It's about my
Creator, and what he created me to do. That is where I will find the
greatest "blessing and joy."
"It's a profound honor & responsibility to bear the image of God." And I hope that it's one you take seriously.
Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized,slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us. Colossians 3:10
*If you are interested in hearing more about the "Gender Matters" topic, refer to my True Woman:101 tab at the top of this page to watch a short video discussion led by the authors of the book.
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