God’s Plan for Women • 07.10.22
Nick Lees   -   July 11, 2022

God’s Plan for Women

Embracing the beauty of God’s good plan for women

  1. Love God with all your being
  2. Love your neighbor as yourself
  3. Rule over creation
  4. Recognize Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s plan for women

 

Last week I shared with you a very impactful book that I had read in preparation for these sermons. Eve in Exile by Rebekah Merkle. I have sprinkled some quotes from this book throughout the message today. Here’s one to get us started:

Design matters. The intent of the designer matters. And we as women, as God’s creatures, are designed by him to fulfill a particular role. How many women are out there living frustrated, impossible lives because they’re trying to be a can opener when God actually made them a knife?

 

So what are we designed to be? What are the problems for which we are the solutions? To even ask that question is to part company with the trend of current thought and historic feminism, because of course in a godless universe we weren’t designed for anything.

 

And if God designed women for a specific purpose, if there are fixed limits on the feminine nature, then surely it would follow that when we are living in accordance with those limits and purpose we will be in our sweet spot. That’s where we’ll shine. Where we’ll excel. And where we will find the most fulfillment. (98-100)

I don’t know what kind of posture you’re bringing into the sermon this morning. I hope that our posture for studying God’s plan for women would be that He has a marvelous plan through which women will shine and excel and be fulfilled. Rebekah’s book really makes a case for the beauty of God’s design, just as we heard from Genesis 1-2 last week. *Pause*

Just like our sermon on God’s plan for men, the structure for our sermon today stems from Jesus’ interactions with the religious leaders in Matthew 22. Go ahead and turn there. It’s page 483 of the Blue Bibles.

The context of this interaction is that the religious leaders of Jesus’ day are trying to trap him. They’re trying to drum up some reason to arrest him and get rid of him! So, first they try to trap him by asking about taxes (vv15-22), then when that doesn’t work, they try to trip him up with a theology question about the resurrection (vv23-33), but that backfires on them too when Jesus not only answers the question but points out their lack of knowledge of the Scriptures. So, they try a 3rd time to trap Jesus, which takes place starting in verse 34. Let’s pick up and read vv34-40.

Matthew 22:34–40 (ESV)

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”

37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

The Pharisees try to trap Jesus by bringing in the expert of the law to test him. They’re giving him one of their most debated issues! “Which is the great commandment in the Law?” They want to know what Jesus would say is the most important aspect of the commands of God that guide them. Jesus’ answer pulls from two Old Testament passages, Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18.

Deuteronomy 6:5 (ESV)

5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Leviticus 19:18 (ESV)

18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Jesus emphasizes that loving God with all your being is first and foremost, but there is a second component that is intrinsically tied to it – loving your neighbor as yourself. These two commands go hand-in-hand. If you know and love God, then you will love your neighbor. And you cannot truly love your neighbor without first knowing and loving God. These two commands are what drive the Scriptures.

With this understanding as our baseline, let’s dig into the specifics of God’s plan for women. Our goal today is…

Embracing the beauty of God’s good plan for women

I hope we will continue to agree with God – “This is very good!” And then, as women, you’d get after it in your daily lives! Our starting point this morning is…

  1. Love God with all your being

This is really where it starts, ladies. Without love for the Lord, everything else in life becomes an exercise in futility. And this aspect of biblical womanhood – to love God with all your being – really boils down to two questions – why and how? Let’s take them in that order.

Why should you love God with all your being? First, because of who He is!

He is your Creator! He is the source of your life. King David pens the following in Psalm 139.

Psalm 139:13–14 (ESV)

13     For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

14     I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

        Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

Put simply, God made you. You would not exist if it were not God’s will for you to exist. For that, he’s worthy of your love. But that’s not the only reason. Consider the Prophet Isaiah’s words from God:

Isaiah 40:25–26 (ESV)

25     To whom then will you compare me,

that I should be like him? says the Holy One.

26     Lift up your eyes on high and see:

who created these?

        He who brings out their host by number,

calling them all by name;

        by the greatness of his might

and because he is strong in power,

not one is missing.

 

Our God is the incomparable God. No one else created the stars in the heavens. No one else keeps them in their place. God alone does it. Not only is he your personal Creator, he is the Creator of the entire universe.

If that wasn’t enough, consider that not only is the source of your life and all the created universe, but he is also the source of truth, goodness, righteousness, and every good thing you’ve ever experienced. James would say this about God:

James 1:17–18 (ESV)

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Some good gifts are from above? NO. Every good gift! All of it finds its origin with the unchanging God. He is the One who made you. All that you have and all that you are come from God’s character and kindness expressed towards you. You exist and have the blessings you do because of God’s will and creative power. God is indeed incredibly worthy of your love and worship.

So, you should love God with all your being because of who He is, but you should also love him because of what He has done! Love is our appropriate response to God’s initiatory love. The Apostle John put it this way:

1 John 4:19 (ESV)

19 We love because he first loved us.

How did he love us? Well, as we’ve already stated, he made us and has given us every good gift. Which includes sending His Son to save us from our sin.

You heard Romans 3:23 last week. Listen to the hope God provides in this progression of verses.

Romans 3:23 (ESV)

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 5:8–9 (ESV)

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

From no hope (dead in sin) to hope in Christ. We can be declared righteous and saved from the wrath we deserve through Jesus! The Apostle Paul applies this hope to himself:

1 Timothy 1:15–17 (ESV)

15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. 17 To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Paul gets it. He understands what God has done for him. His pride has been stripped away. He doesn’t waste his time pretending that he was a pretty good person who just needed a little help to get to heaven. No, he identifies himself as the Chief of Sinners. But Jesus came for him. Jesus personally made a way for the Chief of Sinners to be rescued and redeemed. In doing this, Jesus is incredibly merciful – showing love to one who doesn’t deserve it – and incredibly patient – after all Paul had done some very sinful things in his lifetime and so have I (and so have you, btw)! God gets all the glory for his incredible love.

Ladies, is God’s forgiveness personal and precious to you? Do you understand that you are the Chief of Sinners? Have you recognized your need for Jesus to save you? It’s an incredibly humbling thing to realize the Son of God humbled himself to death on a cross so that you could be saved and made new. That kind of radical, generous love transforms a woman.

He is worthy of your wholehearted, whole-souled, whole-bodied adoration and love. There is no object in the universe more worthy of your love than God.

Which brings us to the second question – how?! I look again to the Apostle John.

1 John 5:3 (ESV)

3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.

Loving God at the very least looks like obedience to God. And not some sort of begrudging, dragging my feet obedience. John says, “his commandments are not burdensome.” These are a joy and a delight to obey! They are for my good and his glory. The commands of God are intended to provide life! They are the way of wisdom that leads to a righteous and holy life, the fruit of which is sweet indeed. This is a consistent refrain of the Scriptures – God’s way leads to life. At his right hand are pleasures forevermore. In his presence is fullness of joy. It is good and right to love God by obeying him.

Another component of loving God is putting him first. The very first commandment in the “Big 10” is “You shall have no other gods before me.” This has always been humanity’s biggest challenge – putting something before God. Whether it is a physical object like the idols of the Ancient Near East or something more nebulous like the approval of man or the pursuit of pleasure or power, it is incredibly easy to forsake loving God by instead loving something else first and most.

Jesus highlighted this common struggle in his famous Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 6 he warned the people about where they store up their treasures. His counsel was to not store up treasures on earth, but in heaven. Not only could things on earth be stolen, but a more serious problem comes from this lifestyle:

Matthew 6:24 (ESV)

24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Putting anything before God is choosing to serve and love it rather than God. Which is why the greatest command is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength! All that you’ve got!

Ladies, what would that look like for you? For God to be your first and foremost priority? Above all else!

As we’ve heard, it looks like joyfully obeying him and giving him the best of your time, talent, and treasure. I want to encourage you to wrestle with what the specifics of that will look like in your life. *Pause*

One of the most tangible ways love for God plays out is just as Jesus said it in Matthew 22:39 – to love your neighbor as yourself. Which is our second opportunity to embrace the beauty of God’s good plan for women.

  1. Love your neighbor as yourself

Ladies, this is your calling. Let’s consider the various ways that ought to play out. There are a variety of roles that you may be called to inhabit during your lifetime. I want to survey what it would look like to love your neighbor in these roles.

Let’s start with the spouse relationship.

  1. Woman as a wife

Loving your neighbor who is your husband. How does God call you to do that in the pages of Scripture?

Let’s look at Ephesians 5:22-24 first:

Ephesians 5:22–24 (ESV)

22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

Ladies, God has given you a clear example of what your love is to look like for your husband through the church’s relationship with Christ. And the church submits to Christ!

Let’s talk about the teaching found in this passage. A wife is called to be a submissive helper to her husband.

The idea of submission in our culture causes many people to become extremely uncomfortable.  Many claim that submission causes a person to lose their individual identity, or even forces them to be a servant to someone else, but that is not the biblical view of submission.

Pastor John Piper explained it well by defining it this way, “Submission is the divine calling of a wife to honor and affirm her husband’s leadership and help carry it through according to her gifts.” (This Momentary Marriage, 80)

Submission is not placing your husband into God’s position.  Submission is not taking your husband’s word as absolute.  Submission is not your husband bossing you around.  Submission does not mean you should follow your husband into sin if he tries to lead you there.  Submission does not mean that you give up all your input in the marriage.

What submission is, though, is the inclining of your will to follow your husband’s leadership.  Submission is a choice wives must make.  It is the choice to willingly follow the initiatives that your husband lays out for the family.

God’s plan for submission is revealed as a beautiful thing when the husband is leading the family spiritually, when he is providing and watching over them financially, when he is discipling his family to become more pleasing to Christ, and when he is protecting them physically from the dangers that are around them.

In submitting to her husband, a wife becomes a picture of the believer submitting to Christ. And THAT stands in stark contrast to the society around us.

Now remember, men and women are equal in God’s sight. We saw that in Genesis 1 & 2 and we also see it in Galatians 3:28. Both men and women are rulers over creation and ambassadors for Christ. But there are distinctions in their roles! And let us not forget the reason for these distinctions – the glory of God! God made us the way He made us with the roles He gave us so that we could represent His Gospel message and bring Him glory on the earth. Paul connects the roles of a husband and wife with the relationship of Christ and the church. That tells us a godly, biblical marriage is a powerful testimony of the Gospel!

Our culture and the feminist movement wants to deceive us into believing that a woman’s worth is determined by what she does – having a high-profile job, rising above men, etc., instead of her worth being determined by who God created her to be… *Pause*

Now let’s think through practical application of this role of submissive helper… Wives ought to:

  • Love and respect their husbands (Ephesians 5)
  • Mentor younger women (Titus 2:3-5)
  • Help their husbands train up their children in the nurture & admonition of God (Eph. 6:4)
  • Utilize their skills/gifts/abilities to honor God and help the family (Prov. 31:10++)
    • This may mean working in industry
    • But it also may mean being a homemaker
      • Recognize the life-impacting importance of managing your home and raising your children! This is fulfilling the Great Commission!
    • Don’t fall for the lie that one type of work is better than another. Our culture wants us to believe that working in the industry is more significant than managing a home, raising kids and helping the husband. THIS IS A LIE! Who determines what is valuable or not? GOD. He is the only one we stand before and give an account too…
      • Neither men or women are in a better position to do what is valuable to God. Both have great opportunities the way He designed us.

Rebekah Merkle likes to talk about the work of a wife as a translator. She seeks to understand the direction of her husband’s leadership and then translates that into a beautiful reality. Here is how she puts it:

So be the glory of your husband. Be the concentrated, intoxicating, incarnate poetry that tells the story of death and resurrection, and then throw yourself into the task of glorifying. Be fruitful. Build your house. Work hard. Be ambitious. Be productive. Learn more. Run harder.

Take the gifts that God has given you, the desires he has given you, the constraints that he has given you, and then figure out how to weave those into something glorious, something compelling, a beautiful aroma that can’t be contained and that beckons a broken world to come and taste, to see that the Lord is good. (195)

There is incredible power in a godly woman using her gifts to beautify and strengthen the gospel in her marriage, home, and workplace. Women are incredibly influential! Peter would recognize this same powerful influence when he penned the following:

1 Peter 3:1–4 (ESV)

3 Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, 2 when they see your respectful and pure conduct.

3 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.

Through the power of their godly lifestyle, a woman can win over the heart of her unbelieving or rebellious husband. Ladies do not underestimate the power of your witness. When you live in a godly manner, it challenges others in your life to take heed and change, especially your husband.

That’s the woman as a wife, let’s move on to another possible role…

  1. Woman as a mother

As we discussed last week, this is a role that has been under attack for quite some time. Unfortunately, our culture has reduced motherhood to a brainless, menial job that no woman should have to demean themselves by accepting. What our culture doesn’t understand is the eternal nature of these little souls she’s investing in. A mother’s influence isn’t only for this lifetime, which is already very significant, it also has ramifications for the life to come! There is absolutely no circumstance where motherhood ought to be considered less important to entering the workforce and carving out a career for herself.

Many ladies enjoy having a job/career. You like the challenge of it, the feeling of accomplishment when you finish a task, and the reward of the paycheck or promotion or product. That’s all well and good. But do you look at your responsibility to your family with the same commitment? Do you view them as a burden or a stewardship opportunity? *Pause*

When it comes to being a mother, there is more to it than simply having babies. God desires godly offspring, which is a lifelong investment from a mother towards her children.

As a mother, you are called to lead and teach your children. Let’s revisit Deuteronomy 6 and I want you to pay attention to what comes after the call to love God with all your being…

Deuteronomy 6:5–9 (ESV)

5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

There was an expectation that women would know and teach the Word through all of life’s circumstances. That they would diligently teach their children! And, ladies, you don’t accidentally become diligent. It’s an aim/goal. If you’re going to teach the Word in all of life’s circumstances, it’s got to be in you and then intentionally coming out of you.

Ladies, do you have that kind of love for the Word? Is it on your heart and mind? How often does it come out? Are you able to confidently help your kids work through a conflict biblically? Can you easily identify sin and help them get to the heart of why they did what they did? What about when your children have big apologetic questions about God – are you able to take them to God’s Word and provide compelling answers to their questions?

If not, you have some work cut out for you today. That’s your job. What’s the next step you’re going to take this week to address it?

  • Get a book – “Shepherding a Child’s Heart – Ted Tripp| For the Love of Discipline – Sara Wallace”
  • Get a mentor
  • Confess/pray
  • Plan a time to invest in them

I want you to write down Psalm 78:1-8 too. While we can’t read that for sake of time, it is another great passage about training up your children to know God and his law. The point is that God clearly expects you to invest in your family – specifically to teach them about God and his ways. Ladies, that’s your calling. *Pause*

Woman as wife and mother, but now let’s move on to our broadest category…

  1. Woman as a member of society

You could call this the catch-all category 😊 The reality is not every woman is a wife or mother, but every woman is called to these other roles or activities.

For example, as we heard last week, every woman is called to be a hard worker. God has designed you to work and not be lazy. There are good works that he has prepared in advance for you to do. A godly woman stays active in the different seasons of life to be a blessing and not a burden to others. Paul warned the church in Thessalonica that if someone was not willing to work then he should not eat. There is no excuse for someone to be idle when there is plenty of work to be done to glorify God and serve others. Women are builders of families, builders of communities (church, neighborhoods, etc.,), and builders of life-giving spaces (hospitality).

A significant part of your calling as women in society is to be disciple-makers. After Jesus’ resurrection, he gave his disciples the Great Commission:

Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV)

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

This commission is for women! Jesus has sent you into the world to make disciples. It’s an incredible and exciting mission, as you call others to believe in Jesus and teach them all that he has commanded. And you don’t do this on your own, Jesus promises that He is with you!

Paul also taught his disciple, Titus, to call older women to disciple the younger:

Titus 2:3–5 (ESV)

3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

Ladies, you are called to make disciples. One of the ways you do that is to train up other women to follow Christ in their various roles, SO THAT THE WORD OF GOD MAY NOT BE REVILED! This has tremendous implications!! Let’s take the reverse of these verses… If women abandon their calling and roles and live selfishly, without boundaries, given to immorality, abandoning their homes and rebelling against their husbands, it brings dishonor to God’s word. People look at that and say, “Christians are a hot mess! They’re no different than anyone else! Why would I want to worship their God?”

Ladies, do you understand the importance of your calling to be a disciple who makes disciples? Do you feel a burden to tell others about Jesus? Have you ever met with another woman to help them grow in their walk with Christ? Who are you doing that with now? Every Christian lady should have an answer to these questions. If you’re not sure where to start, please reach out for help in your SG, the women’s ministry, or with the pastors! We’re here to equip you. *Pause*

As members of society, women are also called to promote purity and righteousness. Unfortunately, many women indulge in sexual immorality, whether virtual or physical. Pornography and sexual licentiousness are real problems in our day. The numbers of women involved in each continue to increase. Many women have been led astray by their desire for physical pleasure or the allure of intimacy. And while both men and women have responsibility for how they conduct themselves in these areas, my focus today is on women, and women must conduct themselves in purity and righteousness!

Consider God’s take on this matter:

1 Thessalonians 4:3–4 (ESV)

3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor,

Biblical womanhood flees temptation and pursues holiness. It treats your own body and others with the dignity and respect due to an image-bearer of God. The price of forsaking God to indulge in sexual immorality is HIGH. The damage it has done to our society is great. One of the clearest and most horrific examples, is abortion. Abortion became mainstream as consequence-free sex became the idol America worshiped. 64 million and counting have paid the price for sexual immorality.

I share this because it highlights the necessity for godly women (and men) to rise up and live differently. For women to refuse to adopt the cultural narrative that pushes for consequence-free sex. For the sanctity of intimacy and marriage to be reclaimed as between one-man and one-woman. For sexual temptation of any type to be fled from and counsel to be sought out. Jesus Christ is the redeemer from these struggles! *Pause*

Finally, a godly woman must be zealous for good works. This ties into the good works that God has created in advance for us to do from Ephesians 2:10 and Titus 2:14. In fact, in Titus, Paul repeats the call to good works multiple times, ending the letter with this admonition:

Titus 3:14 (ESV)

14 And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.

Ladies, you must be devoted to good works. To have a sincere desire for doing good to others. There are hurting people within the church and community that you can come alongside of. There are people all around you that need help. We know that there are admonitions throughout Scripture to care for the orphan/widow/poor. Are you, as a woman, thinking about that call on a regular basis? Your job is not complete when your family has a roof over their head and food on the table. That’s great. Now turn your attention outwards to see who else has urgent needs that you can help meet. That’s a real challenge, isn’t it? With as much brokenness as there is in this world, it can be daunting to look outwards! But this is an obedience issue. Will you care for those who cannot care for themselves? Let’s be on the lookout for opportunities to demonstrate steadfast love and loyalty to others.

Well, for the sake of time, I’ve got to move on. I think I probably bit off more than I ought to for this sermon! The next opportunity to embrace the beauty of God’s plan for women is…

  1. Rule over creation

As we discussed last week from Genesis, God created you to have dominion or rule over creation. For the sake of time, I’m not going to review all of that today, but I did want to remind us that this is a significant sphere of God’s plan for woman. We’ve already discussed aspects of it today and last week.

  1. Woman as a helping being
  2. Woman as a ruler/authority
  3. Woman as a provider (ala the Prov. 31 woman)

It pleases the Lord when you use the time/talents/treasures he gave you to effectively create and rule over the earth. Ideally, as you cultivate and care for what you’ve been entrusted with the world will be a better place. Lives will be built up and society will be influenced towards righteousness. Again, words of insight from Merkle:

It’s good for us to go through this again: if God is good, and if he wants us to subdue this planet, and if he wants us to obey the great commission and conquer this world for Christ, and if he tells half the human race that they’re in charge of tending the home, it follows from this that the home is actually one of the most strategic and important tools by which the world will be won. We should not read that command as God telling the women to get out of the way and make room for the important stuff – he’s telling them to get out there on the front lines…

 

The home clearly matters, and matters a lot. And why is that? The home is the beating heart that powers everything else. The home nurtures, feeds, provides rest, gives shelter, and creates a loyalty to itself that is one of the strongest and most compelling of all human emotions. Home is where your people are, and all of your deepest loves and allegiances are wrapped up in it.

 

Or at least they can be. Home can also be a place of bitterness, heartache, betrayal, and hatred, a place of emptiness and loneliness, a place where things are taken, not given, a place that creates a gaping wound in the souls of those who belong to it. It can weave together or it can shatter, and the person at the home is the woman. Whatever else you may say about it, it’s not an irrelevant position to hold. (162-163)

 

Ladies, your rule over creation matters! Embrace it! With these three components of God’s plan for women before us, we now arrive at our final point to embrace…

  1. Recognize Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s plan for women

Jesus not only commanded love of God and love of neighbor, he also demonstrated it by his life and ministry! He perfectly loved God the Father, always doing what pleased him. He perfectly loved his neighbors! He cared for the weak and weary, the sick and the poor, the outcasts of society with whom no one else would associate. He loved those who hated him, washing the feet of Judas his betrayer, dying to save sinners like us.

There is no one more qualified to hold women to this standard than Jesus. He lived it with every fiber of his being. Which is why he could challenge his disciples with this:

John 15:12–13 (ESV)

12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

Jesus, the sacrificial, servant leader is calling all who follow him to love as he loved. And he laid down his life for the good of many. Ladies, this is your example. Follow Christ!

Not only did Jesus perfectly love God and his neighbors, he also demonstrated perfect authority over creation. He spoke and the winds and waves obeyed. He touched the lepers and they were healed. He prayed and the loaves were multiplied. That’s not to say that we’ll be repeating any of those miracles. However, Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s plan for women. He is exactly what you are called to be, which is why you are called to be conformed to his image! As you fix your eyes on Christ and pursue him, he refines you, removing the rough edges of your sinfulness and replacing it with holiness.

2 Corinthians 3:18 (ESV)

18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Ladies, I want to call you to fix your eyes on Christ. He has made a way for you to love God, love others, and to rule over creation in a godly manner. He delighted to create you, sustain you, and call you to follow him. Answer that call today. Be the woman God has created and called you to be! *Pause*

Let’s pray.