"For
God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By
sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he
condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of
the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh
but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh
set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live
according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the
Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind
on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh
is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it
cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God." ~Romans 8:3-8
The
Lord has placed me in an incredibly humble position to lead high school
and college girls; the heart He's given me for them is some days overwhelming. I see parts of myself in each one of them
and that both scares the heck out of me and brings me endless
joy. Like most of them, I spent the majority of my young adult life
trying not to sin and I failed miserably...over and over again. My
biblical focus in college revolved around reading Solomon's oh-so-wise
words and praying for a Godly husband to lead me while doing *my* best
to stay pure for him and our future marriage. With this kind of
relationship with the Lord, my best was never good enough... if you
could believe that. Embracing my gift of being a leader in college put a lot of
pressure on me. That kind of pressure, without being led by the spirit,
eventually manifests secret sin to try to gain control of a life that's
not our own and it always leads to destruction! Romans 8 clearly says
if we set our mind on the flesh, rather than living a life led by the
spirit, it will lead to death. It doesn't say, "it will lead to
temporary discomfort and unhappiness"...it says, "DEATH"! I knew
nothing of the abundant life mentioned in John 10:10 because my eyes and
heart were not constantly seeking God through His word and I was
DEAD...but worst of all, I thought I was doing it all right.
The
enemy is a ridiculously talented smooth talker. He uses his *God
given* power to convince us that the living a 'sinless' life is enough;
he knows we will fail in our own efforts. I see young women fall prey
to this lie daily in their focus to be 'good.' If being good was
enough, Christ's birth, life, death and resurrection was all in
vain. God's word says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God." (Romans 3:23) That includes all of us good girls who wear our
crosses and purity rings, read daily devotionals, and don't drink, cuss
or have sex. It's IMPOSSIBLE to keep up with being a good girl without
true surrender to God and a real understanding of just how BIG His
grace is.
If
being good girls is how we view biblical womanhood, we've dropped the
ball big time! We (the church) subconsciously think that the theology
of Godly men and leaders is enough to carry us. My fear is that the
church is putting the spiritual growth of girls on the back burner and
depending on the guys. Not only are we putting a lot of pressure on
men, we're raising up weak women, disciples and one-day wives. I don't
know about you, but that frustrates me!
Reading
Proverbs while baking cookies with our small group isn't going to get
us anywhere close to true surrender, ladies...and it's certainly not going to make disciples! Our fellowship with women
has to be more intentional or we're not disciples of Christ, we're just
good girls. It's easy for us to get caught up in the idea that our
lives are pleasing God because we are being good, but Paul tells us in
Romans 8 that "those who are in the flesh cannot please God." If our
lives are not led by the spirit, they are led by the flesh...despite the
fact that the rest of the world views us as good. When we can honestly
see that our idea of godly womanhood is displeasing to God, our
convictions have to fuel a desire to be as close to Him as possible!
I could have probably kept this blog a lot shorter just by saying this...
If
our focus remains on not sinning, our flesh will fail us every time. In order to live a life that's not controlled by sin, we have
to HATE sin, to hate sin we have to LOVE God, to love God we have to
KNOW God, to know God we have to know His WORD.
My challenge for girls is as simple as this...get in the word! Every single day, delight in the gift of reading God's word and watch the way it transforms your life. Seek out godly women the Lord has placed in your life to help you with this. Do not be discouraged when you get bored or confused with what you read, ask God to show you new and exciting ways to study the Bible. We're in this together...Praise Him for that!
"Wimpy
theology makes wimpy women. Wimpy theology simply does not give a woman a
God that is big enough, strong enough, wise enough, and good enough to
handle the realities of life in a way that magnifies the infinite worth
of Jesus Christ." ~John Piper
