Y’all remember my post about racial disclaimers, don’t you? I talked a lot about being proud of who and what God made you to be...and then I paraphrased a verse in the Bible: There is neither Jew nor Greek.
I left off half of that passage, and that’s what I want to begin this post with.
There is neither male nor female.
There are three different mindsets, so to speak. The first is the wrong one—often called politically correct, modern, or culturally acceptable. The second is the way God made us—which has been tossed aside for a wrong mindset and state of being. And the third is what God will make us—a higher, Heavenly perspective that we won’t fully understand until we’re in Heaven. A mindset that goes against nature to align with the spiritual.
That verse is written from a spiritual perspective. Physically, God made us to be male and female—not both, not neither, not one or the other depending on your mood. Spiritually, our sex doesn’t change who we are to God. One day, when we’re in Heaven, it won’t even matter.
But we’re not there yet. We’re here on Earth, where we have be given the gift of sexuality for the purpose of populating the Earth and glorifying God. Yes, we do need to be mindful of what things will be like when we’re in Heaven—but we also need to live our physical life to the fullest.
We need to understand our value.
And I’ve gotten off on a tangent, haven’t I? Well, on to the point of this post...
I’m a female.
And, unfortunately, I live in a time where females have lost their sense of value. If we’re not being told that we’re actually boys in girls’ bodies or that we should be attracted to the same sex, then we’re being told that we need to be more like men. We need to do everything that guys do—and better.
That’s called feminism—but it’s nothing of the sort. It devalues the natural state of women, makes us think that the way we are isn’t good enough. That we need to change. That we need to evolve. That we need to be stronger.
But...what if I’m valuable just the way I am?
What if I can find purpose and meaning in my body and the way it was made, even if it can’t operate in the same way a man’s can? What if I am strong in way men are not? What if I don’t have to be just like a guy to be valuable? What if I have been given gifts—superpowers, if you will—that men were not, that enhances my value in a way nothing else can, that I can use to further the Kingdom of God?
Women are not meant to compete with men. Why should we, when we’re in a category all our own?
We are meant to be mothers. Men weren’t. We are meant to be wives. Men weren’t. We are meant to serve others, to rock the cradle (and thereby rule the world), to pour into individual lives, to raise up more men and women for Christ, to love others’ children when we have none of our own.
I want people to find value in that again. In the gentle, loving spirit of a wife, mother, sister, and daughter that mirrors Jesus’. In the ability to have children and raise them. In the blessing of calling motherless children our own. In the position of a helpmate to the man (because, seriously, no one can keep a man in line like a girl can, or inspire him to dream, or fly alongside him).
I want people to look at me with pride instead of disgust when I tell them that I want to be a wife and mother. Is that selfish? Is it wrong to wish that not only our culture but also the people in my day-to-day life would put as much value in helping men and loving children as they do besting men and killing children?
I don’t think so. I think I’m valuable the way God made me. I think my calling is as important as any other.
And I also think that those who feel called to live in a Heavenly perspective are as important. Those who want to dedicate their lives to Christ and a cause greater than ourselves are even more important than those who want to waste their lives pursuing earthly things that fade away.
Whether you feel called to raise up the ones who will change the world for God or you are one who will change the world, just know you’re valued. Your calling from God has more worth than any of the lies the world spouts.
You are valuable the way you are, because that’s how God made you. And you will grow more and more valuable as you step into your calling and become more like Christ. Let’s stop living in the state of defeat the world has put us in and start seeing ourselves how God sees us—valuable, vessels for His glory, and designed for His purpose.