I appreciate my male colleagues who don’t refuse to discuss work or catch up over lunch or coffee because I’m a woman. I treasure the male friend who texts me nonstop book recommendations. I’m thankful for the ministry leader I met in the green room of a conference event who engaged me in extended conversation and didn’t end abruptly simply because everyone else had drifted out of the room. Rather he honored and respected me as a fellow human being.
I am grateful for the men who will pick me up or return me to the airport during a professional event without requiring a chaperone or initiating an awkward conversation about such normal circumstances.
Even apart from abiding friendship, men and women must live, work, worship and be together in many other ways. Thus, one-size-fits-all manmade rules cannot replace biblical wisdom, the common humanity God gave us or the scriptural injunction to treat one another as brothers and sisters.
This article originally appeared on ReligionNews.com.
