Category Archives: OurSinglePurpose

by: Rachael Woodworth; Guest Writer

Working with children, whether they belong to you or someone else, challenges your mind and draws out of your heart what you really believe about life.  I am a nanny to four, about to be five, children.  The eldest of the kids I nanny is ten and her body is beginning to change.  So we have many interesting conversations about maturing into a woman— “What are curves and why are they good on a woman? What parts of your body are you supposed to shave?  Does waxing your eyebrows hurt?  Do boys go through changes too?”— I smile a lot and find the innocence humorous.  But I take seriously the impact that I can have in her life for the sake of the gospel.  So I try to make every moment a teachable one.  One day, trying to encourage her that putting her own clothes away is part of growing up, I had mentioned that one of the roles of a woman is to take care of her home.  As I was getting dinner on the table for the kids that night, she asked me whose rules are better.  A little confused I asked, “What do you mean?” She clarified and asked if men’s or women’s rules are better.  A grin lit up my face as the light went on in my brain realizing that she was referencing back to our conversation about roles.  I asked, “You mean the ‘roles’ of men and women?”  She shyly giggled and affirmed my suspicion.

Though a simple issue of a vowel mix-up, this moment was not only a perfect one to teach her the beauty of God’s design in creating male and female with equal worth, it was also a picture of how many view God’s design of a woman’s roles: a set of rules of what she can’t do or has to do.  I hope in the words that follow that you will be encouraged to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord, maturing more into the woman that God has designed you to be in love.

In Galatians 5, Paul reminds believers of their freedom in Christ.  This freedom is intended as an opportunity to serve others in love (vss. 13-15).  But this is only possible by walking in the Spirit (vs. 16).  As a woman walks in the Spirit, being obedient to the truth God has given her, she is able to live in freedom, no longer enslaved to her flesh or the world.  Womanhood is not a set of rules that enslave women but rather it is the freedom to display Christ to one another—to glorify God with great joy.

Scripture is clear that creation proclaims the glory of God (Ps. 19).  It is one of the ways God chose to reveal Himself to man (Rom 1:20).  Nature displays God’s glory simply by doing what it was created to do and being what He created it to be.  In the same manner, men and women display God’s glory the most when they are what He made them and when they do what He created them to do. But humanity has a problem that the rest of creation does not; it is human nature to make life about the created rather than the Creator.

Ezekiel 16:1-15 is a perfect example of this dangerous exchange of glory from God to man.  This passage beautifully displays God as compassionate and the giver of abundant life (vss. 6-7).  He cleanses man and gives him dignity as He adorns him with Himself (vss. 8-14). God’s covenant with His people is initiated by Him and He bestows His splendor and beauty to undeserving people.  These truths ought to invoke humility and gratitude.  Yet what results is not a love of God but rather an idolatrous relationship with self and others—“But you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot…” (vs. 15).  Verse 14 says beauty is found in the splendor and beauty of the Lord, which He bestows upon man, not from any outward adornment, so man is left with nothing to boast of in himself (1 Peter 3:3).  Outward adornment is often a stumbling block for the gospel.  It can draw more attention to man instead of the glory of God.

The Westminster catechism states that, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” To glorify God means to shine forth His attributes, to showcase Him in all of life.  Like Moses’ face shown the glory of God to the people of Israel, man is called to proclaim God in word and deed to the nations, making Him known.  Enjoyment of God is seen through obedience to His commands (Ps 119:9-16) and trusting Him (Ps 1).

What does all this have to do with biblical womanhood?  God made male and God made female both in His image (Gen 1 & 2).  Each uniquely demonstrates attributes of God and yet together they reveal an aspect of God’s Trinitarian nature.  A woman can’t be more of a woman.  She is as God created her. However, the more she lives by the Spirit, the more her womanhood shines forth.  The most practical way she lives out her womanhood is displaying more of Christ in her. She seeks to walk by the Spirit by glorifying God (to display Him in her life) and enjoying Him (to obey and trust Him).

As a woman grows in her maturity in Christ, she grows in her femininity.  Living out her role as a woman is part of her sanctification.

So to answer the question of a ten-year-old, as women we have relational equality with men.  Our worth is equal before God, whether we are male or female.  But functionally we are different, though one role is not better or worse than another.  It is by God’s design that we glorify Him and enjoy Him forever as women.  So let us walk by His Spirit, motivated by the great love we have received in Christ Jesus, and trust His created order for our lives.  May we delight in Him that we may shine forth His beauty.  Let us put on garments of praise and dance in the freedom we have in Christ.

Rachael Woodworth