Feb.

2010 Feminar Devotional

Last week I was in a Bible study where we studied through this passage it may sound familiar to some of you: Read I Peter 3:1-8 I think I have always tried to skip over this passage in my readings of the Bible. It doesnt seem to be very politically correct. I know that this may not seem to apply to many of you I realize you are not married women, but I realized some things in this study that I wanted to share with you for several reasons. You are women starting your lives. You are women who may or may not choose carreers in the theatre after graduation. You may choose to go another path. You may have a family one day. You may do it all. But there is one thing I do not doubt you will be confronted with the question that is prevalent in our society, and especially in our profession what does it mean to be a woman? You may have been told at some point you can be anything you want to be. My parents raised me to believe that, and I have loved that they gave me the freedom to decide my path, but hearing at this point in your life that anything is possible is not always helpful. It is too broad. In the professional world, you will probably hear you can do anything that a man can do. I think this is true in many cases, but I also have seen this work against some women. Striving to do what a man can do has left some in my experience cold and hard in the name of success. I worked for a lady in Richmond who I never heard anything but negativity about. She was very successful and talented, but she was not someone you would want to sit down and have coffee with. She was not a kind person. She was not a warm person. I think she had the capacity to be, but she defined herself by her success, and for her that meant proving to everyone at all times that she was not a vulnerable person. It made me sad. So what does it mean to be a woman? Does the Bible really teach that women are best when they are silent and weak? I think that is a wild misunderstanding of something that God meant for our best interests. Genesis 1:27 says So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. This means that God made BOTH men and women in his image. Obviously there are major differences between men and women. We have different strengths and different weaknesses. John and Staci Eldridge, in their books Wild at Heart and Captivated discuss these differences.

According to them, Every man wants three things, and every woman wants three things. These things tell us something important about the nature of God and they are universal we see these longings of men and women in every movie, story, play, song, painting, that touches and moves our hearts. Men long for a battle to fight, adventure, and a beauty to rescue. John makes a point to mention that he is not saying that a woman is a helpless creature who cant live her life without a man. (Im) saying that men long to offer their strength on behalf of a woman. Every film from Rocky to Life is Beautiful will echo these themes. And according to the Eldredges every woman in her heart of hearts longs for three things: to be romanced, to play an irreplaceable role in a great adventure, and to unveil beauty. Thats what makes a woman come alive. We all want someone to pursue us even if we are not interested in being in a serious relationship we want someone to make us feel like we are worth the effort. We are relational beings because God longs to be pursued by us. He is relational too. He gave women that part of himself. We all want to be a partner in a great adventure look at movies like Pirates of the Carribean or Lord of the Rings we long to be a woman deemed worthy of playing an integral role in the adventure. We need to know the goal cannot be met without our contribution and strength. This is because God needs us to need him. (Tell story of the Kiawah bike/sand dollar adventure and disappointment) It is obvious that women want to unveil beauty. We want to walk down the stairs dressed for the prom and have people gasp at our entrance. We want someone to suddenly see us as if for the first time and be speechless because of our radiance. Every little girl wants her daddy to ooh and aah over her when she twirls in a new dress. This is because God longs for us to be captivated and redeemed by his beauty. He created an entire world of beauty just for us, with woman as the crescendo of that creation. So why does all of this matter? Why did I think it would be important enough to share with you women at the start of your lives? Because for a long time I did not understand these things. And still I forget them, and I think every woman does. Satan knows these longings and he will use them against us in the form of insecurity. Staci Eldridge states I know I am not alone in this nagging sense of failing to measure up, a feeling of not being good enough as a woman. Every woman Ive ever met feels it something deeper than just the sense of failing at what she does. An underlying, gut feeling of failing at who she is. I am not enough, and, I am too much at the same time. Not pretty enough, not thin enough, not kind enough, not gracious enough, not disciplined enough. But too emotional, too needy, too sensitive, too strong, too opinionated, too messy. And for men, Satan uses the insecure question of Do I have what it takes? Am I the real deal? Do I measure up? Men need to know that they are worthy of respect, that if push came to shove they would not fail to deliver.

Just look at the Garden of Eden to see how Satan uses these insecurities to cause us to sin. He got Eve to believe that she would be sharing in a great adventure if she ate of the fruit. He convinced her that she would be better if her eyes were opened to know what God knew. In doing this, Eve failed to submit to the authority of God. Then Satan fed on Adams insecurity as a man and got him to follow Eve. Adam failed to lead. And for the rest of the Bible we see example after example of this same sin. Which brings me back to I Peter. I realized this week that when God asks woman to submit to her husband, he is not telling us that we are unimportant or that we dont have the ability to lead. He is telling us that our temptation - our human inclination will be to do it ourselves. To do it better than a man could. But in doing so, we may also be helping Satan feed into a mans sense of insecurity. By submitting once in a while and encouraging a man to lead, we are giving him the gift of security in the longings of his heart. We are telling him he does measure up, and he has what it takes to be a leader. And by showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, a man feeds the longings of a womans heart to know that she is worthy of pursuit and protection. Her heart is precious to him. In no way do I think the Lord teaches us domination. What he is really teaching here is that we love one another enough to feed the longings of our hearts. This is how we can be whole as men and women, and it pleases God when we are whole and healthy and what he created us to be. So the next time you feel insecure as a woman. When you feel like you need to be more hard core to prove your success in the professional world, or when you feel like you need to do it all yourself so it will get done the right way, stop and ask yourself how you are feeding the heart of another, man or woman. How are you answering your own question and the question of others by your actions? How are we fulfilling the point of I Peter 3: Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. God understands us better than we understand ourselves. Lets allow each other to experience the romance, adventure, and beauty of relationship with God and his family.