Complementarianism and strong women

In his review of the book Fierce Women, Tim Challies wrote the following:

There are rumors out there, perhaps deliberately sown or perhaps just based on a misunderstanding, that men who hold to complementarian theology want their women weak. There are some who state that those who believe God has created men and women to fulfill different functions and to take on different roles in life and marriage want women to be pushovers or doormats. Stuff and nonsense, I say. (Tim Challies, http://www.challies.com/book-reviews/fierce-women).

Absolutely! I would go so far as to argue it takes more strength for a woman to properly fulfill the God-given role as wife in a Biblical marriage. Fierce Women sounds like it could be an interesting book, and a positive review from Tim Challies is certainly a good endorsement.

Thank you Jesus for letting us love you

A few nights ago, our not-so-little 2-year old, Grace, volunteered to pray for us before dinner. Most of the prayer was pretty standard fare for a 2-year old, but she finished by praying:

Thank you Jesus for letting us love you.

What a beautiful reminder of the privilege it is to not only be loved by God, but that he makes himself available for us to love him in return. It is only because God has torn apart the veil that separated sinful man from himself, that we are able to approach him without fear. It is only because God abides in us that we are capable of true love. And, it is only because God first loved us that we can love him or each other:

We love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19).

So, we Christians can all pray along with Grace and say:

Thank you Jesus for letting us love you.

Me too

Every night at bedtime, we sing a Bible-themed song with our children and pray with them. Recently I was singing Amazing Grace to my 4-year old son, Eli. And to those who have heard me, I use the term “singing” in only the broadest sense of the word. After singing the first verse, I spent some time teaching Eli about John Newton, the writer of the hymn. Most of you are probably aware of Newton’s background working in the slave trade industry during the 1700’s. (If not, it is worth reading about). I explained to Eli that Amazing Grace is a testimony to God’s amazing grace in saving a wicked sinner like John Newton who long, long ago helped capture black people, like his little sister Grace, and made them becomes slaves.

After explaining the background, I sang that first stanza to Eli again. Then, as I tucked him in for the night, he said with all sweetness, “I’m sure glad that he did not capture Grace.” Yes, me too, Eli. Me too.

 

 

God’s beautiful plan for marriage – Ephesians 5:25-27

This is likely my last post until next week. Not so much because of the holidays, but because I will be traveling to attend the wedding of my oldest daughter. Our world, under the controlling influences of Satan, is doing its best to destroy God’s beautiful institution of marriage. But, thankfully the truth of God’s plan for marriage remains clear because He made it clear in the Scriptures from the very beginning:

Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him….So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (Gen 2:18, 21-24).

Jesus affirmed God’s plan for marriage on numerous occasions (Matthew 19:3-4, Mark 10:6-9, among others). The love of a marriage is also a model of Christ’s love for the church as in Ephesians 5:25-27:

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

So, my hopes and prayers will be that the marriage of my daughter and my new son-in-law will conform to God’s plan for marriage. However, I know all too well that Satan, the sinful world, and even their own sinful natures will try to destroy it. Satan does not want a beautiful, loving, holy marriage because it just might remind people of Christ’s love for sinners. And Satan hates that. So, they need those prayers all the more.

They will also need the Gospel—every day. Not just to save them from the wrath of God, but to remind them that their sins are forgiven, and therefore they are called to forgive the sins of their spouse. They need Christ’s love so they can love each other as God intended. It’s a beautiful plan for marriage, because it was God’s perfect plan from the beginning. Praise God!

Inconsistency from one verse to the next – Colossians 3:18-19

Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord (Colossians 3:18).

This idea of wives submitting to their husbands sure garners a lot of discussion within Christianity today. And, a lot of that discussion is very heated. Outside of the faith, this idea is routinely mocked. It is considered outdated, not applicable to our enlightened and modern culture, and even misogynistic. Funny, I have never heard anyone use those same arguments for the very next verse:

Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. (Colossians 3:19).

I am still waiting for the heated debate and vitriol regarding this verse.

What’s Love Got To Do With It?

In his inauguration speech, President Obama said, “Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law – for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.” If “love” is the basis for determining who should be allowed to marry, then why limit the redefinition to just gays? What about intergenerational love like the man and his grandmother who want to marry? What about polygamous marriage for people who love each other? What about the love of a brother and sister who want to marry? Without the Biblical standard for marriage, there is no solid foundation for defining what is moral good versus what is moral perversion.