Blessed Is She

Women's worth is a topic that is frequently discussed in our culture, both among church leadership and the wider public. On International Women's Day, we celebrate women while recognising the values a professed Christian should uphold.

God is a God of Equality:

The buzzwords of today are feminism and gender neutrality. God's creation was always intended to be balanced, but time has changed our definition of 'equality, and we may need to reconsider how we have come to express it now.

When God "created them, male and female," He established the beauty of wholeness, and we must align our thinking with that. This has critical significance for a Christian. Our worldview is not derived from scientific theories, nor is it influenced by talk shows, celebrities, or popular culture. In His revealed, holy Word, the Creator alone determined and established the purpose for His creation. While promoting equality is unquestionably a just and reasonable cause, we must not ignore the fact that God, who is holy and just, is defined by righteousness and justice as part of His very nature and essence itself. As a result, no matter how much desire and hunger for equality we muster, we can never match God's character. To all of creation, God is just and righteous.

Jesus Came to Uplift Women.

Jesus Christ has done much to elevate the status of women to the highest degree of honour and dignity. The paradigm for women in society changed when the revealed Word manifested in human form. He presented some jarring contrasts with the prevailing norms that were ingrained in people's minds. God had established a patriarchal society in Israel historically. However, it affected the way society was developed and defined. Women's identities were discovered in relation to those of men alone. Society primarily became one that was man-driven. Men were given the upper hand and authority in all actions and laws. There were also far too many instances of men verbally and physically undermining women in all of the Greek, Roman, and Jewish cultures.

But throughout the pages of the Scripture, God makes it abundantly clear how important women are.

• Consider the promise that was proclaimed in the Garden of Eden. When sin crept into the perfect world God created, God declared that it would be the 'seed of a woman' that would crush the enemy and pave the way to restore it back. When we consider that this was a promise of redemption that was to be fulfilled a few thousand years later, it becomes incredibly profound. It was established by God using a woman.

• Once more, when the promise of the saviour was due to enter into our broken world, 'the blessed woman' who believed was the carrier of our saviour into this world. Moreover, the written genealogy of Jews never contained the name of a woman, but Jesus made an exception to His genealogy by including a few women in the list!

• At the new dawn, when the promise of the "First Fruits of New Creation" was being realised, the news of Jesus' resurrection was embraced and spoken by a woman. Since they were the first to see it, they also served as the first ones to spread the gospel. Furthermore, this is astounding, given that not even angels were permitted to deliver the good news to the disciples.

So, Jesus paved the example by restoring women's values and treating them with honour and respect. The crucial moments in history were so centred on women. In the same spirit of love and integrity, the scriptures instruct men to treat their mothers, wives, sisters and women in general. It teaches that a godly man can never intimidate, malign or abuse a woman. It instructs husbands to be considerate to and treat their wives with respect as co-heirs of the gracious gift of life found in Jesus (1 Peter 3). It instructs children not to revile but to honour their mother (Mat 15). It teaches young men to regard sisters in full purity (1 Timothy 5). It teaches society to honour and take care of widows. That is the regard and consideration the Word has directed for the woman.

God's Design for Equality

Jesus set the bar by reestablishing the values of women and treating them with honour and respect. Women were at the centre of the most important historical moments. The Bible gives men instructions on how to treat their mothers, wives, sisters, and all women in general in the same spirit of love and integrity. It teaches that a godly man can never intimidate, malign or abuse a woman. It instructs husbands to be considerate to and treat their wives with respect as co-heirs of the gracious gift of life found in Jesus (1 Peter 3). It instructs children not to revile but to honour their mother (Mat 15). It teaches young men to regard sisters in full purity (1 Timothy 5). It teaches society to honour and take care of widows. That is the regard and consideration the Word has directed for the woman.

'The Priority' where man was created first, and the woman was created second (1 Ti 2:13), 'the derivation' where a woman was formed from the man, (1 Cor 11:8), 'the Purpose' where the woman was made to be "helper suitable for man" (Gen. 2:18), 'the Glory' where Christ is the head of man, and man the head of a woman (1 Cor 11:7), 'the Physiological factor' where the woman is "the weaker vessel" (1 Pet. 3:7), all points out to the perfect design element of the creator to fulfil His broader purpose. The role distinctions are not based solely on cultural conditions in Biblical times, nor is it essentially evil. It has various role applications to the individual, the Family and the Church.

Women represent the carrier of God's eternal plan for humankind. Eve brought corruption to the world through disobedience. But the Word clearly declares in 1 Timothy 2:15 that "woman will be saved through childbearing if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety." Women are thus given the privilege to invert corruption by being the carriers of mankind and given the honourable and mammoth task of bringing up godly children who will possess eternity.

"Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!" - Luke 1:45

One day is not enough to celebrate you, Mother, Wife, Daughter, and Sister, but every day is!

Happy Woman's Day, Every Day!