With all of the discussion and debate about masculinity and what God intends for men, I can’t help but point out the obvious: most of them are written by men, for men, and there is far less by and for women.
When I think of my daughters and their friends, of me and mine, I long for us to grasp what God intended when woman was created. I long for us to bring a gospel-redeemed femininity to our relationships, our work place, our communities, and our churches.
Because we are created male and female in the image of God, this topic cuts to the core of who we are. Could we even extrapolate that our gender defines us more than our family of origin? More than our culture? More than our personality? I don’t know.
But I know that the evil one was quite brilliant to attack our gender during the fall and to continue to do so today. No wonder this is a battle. So here are a few points to consider:
1. Gospel femininity is bigger and broader than culture or roles.
The culture in which we live obviously impacts our roles both as men and women. But this does not need to define us nor imply that this is what God intended. Remember, the gospel transcends culture.
It would be as preposterous to define femininity by what we do as it would be to define an entire person by their current job. When we limit femininity to a role, such as mothering or marriage, we confine it to our status. That’s absurd. Does that mean we can’t reflect God’s image if we aren’t married?
When we define femininity by our roles and our culture, we run great risks. We fall on the side of either erasing gender differences or focusing too narrowly on those differences.
On the one hand, when we try to hide the differences or ‘do it like a man,’ the very gift and essence of who we are is not offered. Everyone loses. But if we focus too narrowly on staying in a prescribed role, we may limit the wild ways God may be calling us to join in his redemption.
