~thoughts~

I listened to a cd today from Chip Ingram's series, "House or Home: Is there a woman in the house?" John MacArthur had an excellent series going last week, entitled, "God's Pattern for Wives" I just looked up the transcripts for those messages. I've been thinking over a few things the past few days, in regard to what the scripture says in light of certain issues. Wow, both messages were excellent and thought provoking!

Anyway...here's a few quotes from J. MacArthur's message pt 1...just to pique your interest. :)

"...And the real calling of woman is to be in the home, to be submissive to her husband, to be following his lead, caring for her children, caring for her home."
--Wow! It's amazing he had the guts to say that! Note: Titus 2--

He goes on to talk about some career women who "have it all", and then decide they need a baby to "complete themselves" He writes:

"This is the sentimental, romantic view of motherhood. And this sentimentalism is dangerous because any time our emotions are driving the car, we will end up in a ditch. Babies wake up in the night. Babies get sick. They make a mess. And sometimes babies die.

I admit that the tender, sweet and emotional side of motherhood is precious, but only because hard-headed reason and biblical discipline with lots and lots of hard work is steering the process. Christian women need to have their approach to mothering anchored in the scriptures, not in their emotion. You're not going to learn mothering anywhere but in the Bible. You're not going to learn it from a talk-show host. You're not going to learn it from a magazine article at the check stand in the market. You're not going to learn motherhood from classes on self-esteem. A healthy, godly view of mothering comes out of the Word of God and it has to be learned there. And we're going to look at that in days to come.

Motherhood is not a romanticized ideal, it is a God-given task, suited to a woman's frame and accomplished joyfully by hard work through His grace and provision. Godly motherhood does not focus on the pretty little child, doesn't focus on infancy and childhood. Let me tell you, godly mothering focuses on adulthood from the start. It focuses on a long-term objective which is mature godly sons and daughters who will live to bring honor and glory to God. That is the calling of scriptural spiritual motherhood. That's what God wants. Those who don't know Christ, they can't even approach it right. Those who do, must."

The whole message is great and it encouraged me to not be afraid to stand w/ the scriptures on the subject of women's roles. In the culture we live in, it's easy to get into the mentality of "Well, this is what we decided and it works for us. You do what you want and what you believe the scripture means." The deception behind that statement is relativism--each person decides truth for himself. Yikes, and we even do it w/ the scriptures! The exciting thing is that the Lord's ways do work, when we take the step of faith and rely on His sustaining grace.

For the whole message see: www.gty.org and then go to radio transcripts for the month of May and there's several broadcasts directed to women.