Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the Joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning it's shame, and sat down at the right hand of of the throne of God....Hebrews 12:1-2
I am a complimentarian in theology.
"Complimentarianism Is the view that though man and woman were created equal in their being and personhood, they are created to compliment each other via different roles and responsibilities manifested in marriage, family life religious leadership and elsewhere."...Theopedia www.theopedia.com/complimentarianism.
In Genesis God created man and women, and He created us...both man and woman, in HIS image. What does this mean. That means that in the essential core of every man and woman there is something inherent in them that is meant to point back to God.
I believe that for man; that is their role as leader. Leadership means sacrifice, it means protecting. It means laying yourself down for the good of others. It means being held responsible for the actions of others. It may sound enviable to be the "leader", but I will say right now...I do not wish I was a man. God has a heavy charge to lay on them
So if that is a heart of man, what is the heart of woman. God calls woman the "helper". It is not an offensive term. It is the same term used to describe the Holy spirit. When I hear this term I think of long suffering. I think of patience through pain. I think of the garden of Gethsemane. In reading John chapters 17-18 we see a trait in Christ that the Bible speaks very highly of. Despite knowing what pain was coming. Despite knowing the horror and death that awaited Him, Christ lay himself down to the will of God and to the pain. While doing that though, there was no bitterness. Christ didn't throw up emotional walls, He didn't shut out His friends or try to run from His feelings. No, Christ felt the pain deeply. He experience the fear fully, he drew in the agony of waiting for the worst. He searched for the will of the Father with great trepidation. In all this he was, as the Bible says, silent like a lamb to the slaughter. (Isaiah 53:7)
I think this is the beauty that Christ want to share with us as women. The beauty of the woman is that we are the weaker vessel. We are the warm arms for the world. We are the soft place to land. We are the safe haven. Children when in pain cry for their mothers. Men, when weary from a long day at work seek comfort in their wives. When men go without the touch of women they wither away. To be blunt, sex is a desire for women, but for men it is a NEED. Men need us.
In Eden Adam had animals, he had the beauty of nature, he had the personal living presence of God walking in the garden with him; yet he needed more. He needed Eve...mother to all.
You see, the beauty of woman is also our greatest curse. That curse is that we are purposely created to be open and unprotected. We are created in such a way that we need the protection of men to be whole (not necessarily in marriage, but that of fathers, pastors and warriors).
In the world however, Satan has used the very thing that was meant to protect us, that we were meant to shelter in the wonder of our gentleness, to cause us great pain. Men have used and abused women in the most profoundly heart-breaking way since creation.
So what do we do as woman in those situations? How do we mirror the beauty of Christ in those instances? We stay open.
It is our first reaction as human that when pain is caused us that we retreat inside an emotional or sometimes physical barrier to avoid this pain. We wall ourselves off. Had Christ done this in the garden, our salvation would have never been possible. Had Christ reacted as most of us do to the pain he felt through His life...both before and after that John 17-18 moment, we would not have the safety of His love to run to, but would find instead a wall of bitterness, anger and selfishness.
No, Christ allowed the pain to fall on Him in it's fullness...for the joy set before Him. This is the call on all Christianity: to rejoice in suffering and to "Go out to Him" (Hebrews 13:13). But there is special need for women to do this: we are the picture of Christ to the world in our joyful suffering.
Now, I don't mean in this that we are to remain in abusive situations that we are not called to. Or that we are to simply accept pain and never look for a way out. I don't mean that we shouldn't use wisdom in our relationships to avoid unnecessary pain. What I do mean though, is that we should not stop holding out our arms because they are bruised broken or bleeding. Like Christ, who's arms where wide open on the cross, not because they were nailed there; but because He in His love for us chose to stay there.
No man has this call, and so the strength of man is a different kind. So stand up tall woman of God. Open your arms to the world. Draw in the hurting, the orphaned, the afflicted. Draw in the weary warrior to find rest with you. Draw in the scared child to find a home in your heart. Draw in the broken and tired women around you to help bear their hurt unselfishly and fully invested. How grateful I am for the women who are in my life who fully invest themselves into my life...even if it means bearing great pain on my behalf!
Finally, know that you do not stand alone. When the pain falls down on you without buffer, remember that you are in Christ. He is the one who is your shelter. So when you feel the pain, He feels it so much stronger for you.
Let us glorify Chris together and endure the pain so that when the joy comes it is not held back by the walls we foolishly built to keep out the pain. And though the sorrows may last for a night, Joy will come in the morning. The promises for our pain are promises that last but for a moment, the promises for our joy will be forever in the glory of our greatest Joy: Christ.
