Category: Articles and Devotionals
A selection of devotionals written by Barbara Shafer.
Making the Theological Understandable
A selection of devotionals written by Barbara Shafer.
John 13: 9 “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” 10 Jesus answered, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.
Peter. Peter. Peter! Open mouth. Insert foot. Didn’t you get it from the verse before this?
Oh dear. Slow learner. All heart, no head. All zeal, no comprehension. All passion, no perception.
Take a breath, Peter, and know the folk wisdom of God giving us two eyes and two ears so we will be quick to see and hear, two feet for walking well…but only one mouth since if we had two mouths, we’d be down for the count with both feet in mouth instead of walking with Him.
Yup, it’s true. God wants us to learn before speaking.
The disciples have been made clean—as a whole and as a group–because of their having learned from Jesus about the ways of God. They’ve seen the Father in Him. (That’s kind of the picture of those who bathed at home before coming to the table, only their feet would be dusty from the road.)
Individually, however, they would need to have their feet washed as a picture of their individual sins being washed clean. Jesus says,
Not every one of you is clean.
Why did He say that? Well, Judas, though he had been part of the group, had lots of passion, but no willingness to serve Jesus by learning from Him. Judas had no understanding of the future because he didn’t listen long enough before acting. If he did and if he had a true and loving heart instead of just passion, he wouldn’t have agreed to betray Christ.
Judas’ individual sins would never be washed clean because he would never repent them. He would go on to betray Christ, then he’d confess to the wrong people, and then he’d kill himself. The dust was still all over his feet in a figurative sense. He was not clean.
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Give it up for Lent: Speaking and acting without knowledge.
Put it on for Lent: Being made clean by confessing your sins to God and finding forgiveness in Christ
For further thought:
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You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar. Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.
John 13:6 [Jesus] came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” 8 “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
Even With Christ in the Upper Room, Peter was a rather stubborn guy. I can appreciate that. I guess I’m stubborn too, in my own way.
Stubbornness and serving are incompatible.It sort of reminds me of two people getting ready to go through a doorway and one says, “You first.” The other says, “No, you first.” And the cycle continues as the stubbornness of each entrenches them to the exact opposite of serving and the die-hard assertions of “You first” instead of selfless generosity and concern, could really be translated, “I want my own way.”
“I want my own way.” Yikes, that isn’t serving at all!
Instead of Jesus’ deciding to do Peter one better at being stubborn, Jesus teaches about humility and the selfless heart. He offers two explanations as to why He is, in fact, going to wash Peter’s feet. Both have to do with Jesus’ final preparations regarding the concept of serving.

The sin of self-will is at the heart of pride and is the opposite of serving others. Only when we let go of ourselves–and getting our own way–will we see that Jesus offers a better way: Serving God by serving others.
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Give it up for Lent: Stubbornness
Put it on for Lent: Serving God by serving others.
For further thought:
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You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar. Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.
John 13:2 The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
It’s an amazing contrast in some important ways:
God serves man.
Holy serves sinner.
The Savior serves both the Father and sinners.
The devil had already prompted Judas to betray Christ, yet Jesus washed His disciples’ feet in an act of humble service. Scripture does not say Jesus washed everyone’s feet but Judas’ because Jesus knew he was a betrayer. No, Jesus served even the one who would betray Him. Jesus, the sinless One, served all of us who rebelled and broke the heart of God by our sins. In a sense, we’ve all betrayed God and rejected Him and yet, Jesus came. He loved.
He served to show the superiority of love and humility.
The Father had put all things under Jesus’ power and yet this powerful One would show the full extent of His love by serving the Father who sent Him as well as serving those whose station was beneath His own, sinful man. Scripture says about Jesus, Philippians 2:6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The “condescension of God” in Christ (i.e. the way He stooped down to rescue us) and the humility of Christ to come from God in order to save us is profound. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
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Give it Up for Lent: Pride
Put it On for Lent: Humility
For further thought:
Read John 12:42 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved praise from men more than praise from God. 44 Then Jesus cried out, “When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45 When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. 47 “As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. 48 There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. 49 For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. 50 I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”
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You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar. Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.
“It was just before the Passover Feast.
Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.
Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.” (John 13:1)
In our 2015 Lenten devotional series, we’re looking at Jesus’ final words to us before He goes to the Cross. If the words “light” and “life” characterize the early chapters of the Gospel of John, there is one word that reigns supreme With Christ in the Upper Room (John 13-17). That word is “love.”
What does it mean that Jesus now showed His disciples the full extent of His love?
In the Greek language, it has a double meaning. It means both that He loved them to the very end of His days as well as He loved them to the fullest extent possible, which for Jesus, the Son of God, is a lot.
He showed the full extent of His love as final preparation.
Love can be modeled. Love can be shown. Love can be seen. And love can be learned by experience. But I wonder, can a person be taught how to love? Or do we just remember?
We come into this world as lovers made in Love’s image. For God is love. But the assaults of sin in this world cause us to build walls of protection around our hearts to keep us from being hurt. We are taught—by sin—to resist being vulnerable in love. Fear of being hurt is a powerful teacher…and a mighty obstacle to knowing how to love others.
1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
So Jesus came and showed us the Father. He showed us what Love looks like. When we see Jesus, we see the Father in whom all Love is perfectly displayed. Jesus models the beauty of dependence upon the Father, complete with all vulnerability, unafraid of being hurt by sin, and totally trusting in God’s goodness and eternal providence.
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Give it up for Lent: Fear of vulnerability
Put it on for Lent: Love for God and neighbor
For further thought:
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You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar. Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.
I am at a loss for words regarding the horrific treatment of Christians and Jews around the world, among the latest being the devastating loss of 21 Coptic Christian martyrs at the hands of ISIS. When Jesus looked down upon that scene, ISIS–the embodiment of evil in the world–vaporized in His sight, and Jesus saw godly men on their knees, 21 people of the Cross in collective prayer. Twenty-one faithful followers of God in the Egyptian Church. Good and faithful servants whose names glow with glorious faith in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Brave men who persevered to the end…and overcame…and whose souls cry out from under the altar of God, as in the Book of Revelation:
Revelation 6:9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” 11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.
I want to believe that as they were preparing to lay down their lives for Jesus, the heavens opened up and each was given a sweet vision of the Son of Man standing at the right hand of the Majesty on High. In a stunning vision of the Ancient of Days and in the glory all around His throne, these brave souls saw and felt nothing but joy inexpressible as the love of God in its fullest and purest form showered them with grace. They have traded orange jumpsuits for white robes. This world did not deserve these Coptic Christians.

The 2015 Lenten Devotionals entitled With Christ in the Upper Room will begin on Ash Wednesday (February 18th). If you’ve signed up to receive them on the Seminary Gal Home Page side bar, you will be receiving those automatically via email on Monday through Saturday, as well as the Sunday preaching messages during the Lent time frame.
The format of these devotionals is a short scripture discussion, a “Give it up for Lent”, a “Put it on for Lent”, and a few questions for further thought.
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We’ve reached the last of the Ten Undeniable Truths of Womanhood: #10 The Lord’s maidservants bring glory to Christ by their obedience.
Women don’t need to feel like they are glorifying God less by being women. God is not surprised with how He made us and sometimes He is glorified uniquely by a woman’s obedience. The extent to which the world’s population is female, that is the very degree to which He desires to receive glory by their obedience.
The number one thing any Christian woman can do is to seek God in order to obey Him.
Only by knowing and doing the will of God will we glorify Him in all we do. So whether God has gifted you with the freedom of singleness, the joys of marriage, the responsibilities of motherhood, or seasons during which you experience a variety of these things in womanhood, do it well. Obey God because the Lord’s maidservants bring glory to Christ by their obedience.
Research:
John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit– fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
Reflect:
Respond:
Are you a man? Find ways to encourage the women in your life in their God-given callings. They glorify Christ when they are obedient to Him. Pray about whether there are any ways you are standing between a woman in your life and her calling from God. If there are ways you can coach or encourage her in Christ when the journey is hard, it would help her to remain obedient when doubts arise. Your help to her glorifies Christ because it affirms that His glory is paramount.
Are you a woman? Be obedient at all times. To God, certainly! To the men in your life, show them respect and honor. Treat them as you would wish to be treated and as brothers in your family. Are there men in your life who do not know Jesus? Are there men who disagree with what you’re doing? Be patient in winning them over. Culture is stacked against them in many of the same ways it is stacked against you. God wants you to bear fruit and therefore, ask God to remove any obstacles in the way of fruitful service to Him. Don’t give in to the traps of the culture. Obedience to Christ–in spite of opposition–brings Him greater glory. It’s a greater sacrifice of love. Keep focused on Him.
Are you a pastor? Teach about obedience and model it. If you’re a married pastor, have you openly talked with your wife about her calling from God and taught other married men to do likewise with their wives? If her obedience to Christ would mean expanding your view of pastors’ wives and their roles; if it would mean pressing into the opposition against her in order to teach all of us how obedience perseveres through trials; if it would mean standing up to men and women in your church who would stand in the way of her obedience to Christ, then are you prepared to walk with her, loving her as Christ loved the Church, and giving yourself up so that she might bring glory to God by her obedience?
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Ten Undeniable Truths of Womanhood:
Submission and sacrifice are tough topics for women. A few years ago, I led a weekend retreat for an adult ministry and ended up using the word submission as it appeared in one of the Scriptures we were using for a different purpose. Though it was totally off-point, a Q&A exploded upon the scene and the word submission expanded into a full-blown discussion. Submission and Sacrifice are pressure-cooker words and I’d argue that it’s because we begin at the wrong starting point.
Of the Ten Undeniable Truths of Womanhood, Number 9 is ‘Submission and sacrifice aren’t bad words for women.'”
In evangelical Christian circles, a great debate has arisen about the “eternal subordination of the Son (Jesus) to the Father.” (Translated for real human beings, these evangelical theologians posit that the Father is in control, the Son Jesus always submits, there is a hierarchy where the Father rules, this is the pattern from eternity past, and it will continue into eternity future. Therefore women should get used to the fact that this pattern means women will be in submission and subordinate to authorities as men for all eternity.)
Personally, I think theirs is a human-derived and grave error, going wrong from a wrong starting point: power. Subordination, like Submission and Sacrifice, is a word that makes Jesus appear to be in a station beneath that of the Father, and His position that of under the thumb of the Father when nothing could be farther from the Truth.
All of these (Submission, Sacrifice, and Subordination), as words of love, paint a picture of beauty in a relationship of love within the Godhead in which no one is exerting authority or control…as a tug of war…between conflicting wills.
Instead, there is an excellence and perfection in unity of mind and purpose. There is a common will and a shared goal. These words, then, are ancient words of love that existed in the Godhead, words of love indicating a free will to shoulder more of the burden for the sake of the other. Eternal Sacrifice.
If more of us earned submission by virtue of our love than demanded submission by means of our authority, we’d bear God’s image in far truer resemblance.
While I could write volumes on this and make everyone angry with me, I’d rather let God’s Word speak for itself on the issue of submission, sacrifice, and yes, even subordination. Think of these words as ancient words of love as you Research, Reflect, and Respond.
Research:
Reflect:
Respond:
Are you a man? Look at the way you treat those around you. Does love characterize your actions? Do you earn submission by your loving protection of those in your midst? How do you wield power? What is your attitude toward power and love? Which one is a sign of genuine strength?
Are you a woman? Look at the way you treat those around you. Does love characterize your actions? Do you submit to the loving protection of parents, your husband, or those who lead through the one-person opening in the wall for your safety? If you have children, do you protect your children in that same loving way? What types of things make you bristle at words like submission, sacrifice and subordination? Write down your thoughts on: “Those words make me feel like womanhood is _(fill in the blank)_.” Bring that to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to show you Jesus’ view, in love and truth.
Are you a pastor? Look at the way you treat those around you. Does love characterize your actions? Do you earn submission by your loving protection of those in your midst? Are you all about power and control? Would those in positions of responsibility under your authority say that you are all about power and control? What types of things keep you from pursuing submission, sacrifice and subordination as words of love? If the Father treated you the way you treat others, would you know the fullness of joy, the freedom of worship as living sacrifice, and the happiness of fruitful service? Do you lay down your life for the sake of others?
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Ten Undeniable Truths of Womanhood
Number 8 of the Ten Undeniable Truths of Womanhood is:
The Christian woman must learn to artfully balance following Christ while simultaneously honoring the men in her life.
Tightrope walking may also be called funambulism, but it’s easier said than done and sometimes not much fun in today’s Christian landscape.
Keeping your balance in the Christian life is perhaps more difficult for women than it is for men. Arguably, womanhood requires keeping a Christian ministry balance in both horizontal (with men) and in vertical (with God) ways.
Every tightrope walker needs a few important things:
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Maintaining the center: What is our center, or rather, Who? If you said “Jesus,” you’re absolutely right. He is our center. Everything we do is centered around following Him, obeying Him, and doing His will. When we’re centered, we’re less likely to be twisted and turned off our narrow way and we are able to walk it without falling.
Staying focused: This another key because distraction and discouragement are two of our adversary’s primary weapons against us. If Satan cannot discourage us away from the centrality of God’s tasks, our adversary will try to convince us to pay attention to other things, too. How is it possible to stay focused when so many things in church try to pull us off the tightrope? Things like politics, other people’s expectations, selfish priorities, and for women (and men), feminism and the reaction against it–they all serve to twist our balance and throw us off kilter. We spend so much energy fighting each other, we often have little stamina left to actually contend together for the sake of the Gospel.
Footing as friction: It may seem counterintuitive, but the friction we get also serves to give us traction. It helps us to cling to what the Truth is. When we have a toehold on the narrow way of Truth, we won’t slip so easily. In fact, it’s the crags and crevices, the bumpy parts and jagged edges which serve to make it possible to climb. I think about the two men who recently climbed the 3,000 foot granite cliff on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park using only their hands and feet and a safety rope. One of the climbers’ mothers was reported to say that theirs is , “[A] deep, abiding, lifelong friendship, built over suffering on the wall together over six years.” It’s not just folk wisdom that says if a mountain was smooth, you couldn’t climb it. Without friction we could not walk and we could not run. With reduced friction, like on sheets of ice, our steps must be smaller and our stride slower to avoid slipping.
Friction, though it makes the work harder in one sense, is the very force that also makes our walk and work possible.
Balancing tools: For the Christian woman seeking to honor both Christ and the men in her life with their rules of Christian engagement, it’s important to have the necessary balancing tools of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and lots of prayer. The Holy Spirit, close to our heart and our center of faith, uses the full Word of God and lots of prayer to prevent the rotational inertia and angular acceleration which could twist and turn the Christian woman off her walk. When my husband honors Christ with respect to himself, he is also honoring Christ’s will for me. Jesus wouldn’t tell my husband something different as my “one-flesh-husband” than what Jesus tells me. So when we cling to one another in marriage, and we cling to Christ together, I can obey Jesus by obeying what Jesus told my husband. It takes two feet to stand steady and to walk with purpose. It’s how we work together in love, and do God’s will in total unity.
Research:
Reflect:
Respond:
Are you a man? How’s your center? Is Jesus there? How’s your balance and your footing? What about friction: are there any potential stumbling blocks impeding the forward progress of the women in your life with respect to the Gospel and the Kingdom of God? Or is the friction causing you to cling to the Word for wisdom? Are you married? What would it look like to encourage your wife in obedience to Christ and for you to sacrifice for her?
Are you a woman? How’s your center? Is Jesus there? How’s your balance and your footing? What about friction: are there any ways in which you are perpetuating division by your actions? Are you married or working toward marriage in the future? If so, would your spouse or intended say that you are honoring your relationship with him? Would he say that you are doing God-honoring things and using God-honoring ways in your obedience to Christ? Is it possible to do all the right things in all the wrong ways? How might your balancing tool of the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, and prayer help you to maintain your center and watch your life and doctrine closely?
Are you a pastor? How’s your center? Is Jesus there? How’s your balance and your footing? Where is the friction in your church? Are there any ways in which you are causing division by your policies, programs, or actions? How might your views of authority be revised by thinking of your church as requiring both feet for proper balance and forward movement? How might cutting one foot short be hampering your balance, limiting your stride, and preventing growth of your church? How might you view friction positively and use it to help your whole congregation climb higher?
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Ten Undeniable Truths of Womanhood:
Over 2 decades ago, Time Magazine featured a cover asking, “Why Are Men and Women Different?” The featured subtitle was, “It isn’t just upbringing. New studies show they are born that way.”
For many of us, our immediate thought was, “Duh” or “Ya think?” Because we know the Undeniable Truth of Womanhood #7: Biology Affirms What the Bible Teaches. Men and women are different because even though (together) we complete one species, we were two separate creative acts of God. Adam was created first from the dust of the earth and then, Eve was built from him. That’s what the Bible teaches.
Why? Because it was important for redemptive history.
It’s why it took both Adam and Eve’s eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for their eyes to be opened. In the scope of redemptive history, if Eve hadn’t come from Adam, then Christ’s forgiveness wouldn’t extend to women, too. I’m ok with Eve being made from Adam since I want to share in the grace of Christ for salvation like all Adam’s descendants do.
Yes, I’m a Creationist. And I believe the rest of the Bible too. Women and men are not exactly alike and a woman’s identity, her womanhood, flows from having been built from man. She’s Adam’s perfect complement. Together, we make a perfect pair.
I sometimes marvel at the level of coincidence one must acknowledge when adhering to the idea of man’s ORIGIN from evolution alone.
Women know how hard it is to find a good man even knowing what to look for, in a confined space like earth. Let’s say you had the whole universe to search for someone who was your suitable reproductive mate among all the primates, especially one to produce offspring. It’d take even longer.
It’d be like “Where’s Waldo?” on steroids and without a hat to help you find the guy.
For me, the hardest thing for evolutionists to overlook is the idea of male and female in both the Animal Kingdom and Plant Kingdom. In this graphic (below) just imagine how miraculous it is that each of these life forms have male and female. Did they start male and female, evolving lions and peacocks (for example) from both sex branches? There is no third sex, fourth sex, or undeclared in the bunch. Why would evolution settle in on only two sexes for reproduction? To me, this is the biggest stumbling block evolutionists must answer before I would even think of questioning the simplest solution: God made them that way. Biology affirms this.
Research:
Genesis 1:20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning– the fifth day. 24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” (italics added)
Reflect:
Respond:
Are you a man? In Genesis 3:20 we read, “Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.” Adam named his wife after the fall of man and before she was pregnant with Cain, their firstborn. In households of husbands and wives, it is perfectly appropriate for men to assume a greater share of the “rule and subdue” part of God’s blessing of the one-flesh-team while the mother of children focuses on the “be fruitful and multiply” part. What might this indicate about God’s view of single motherhood, “baby mamas,” and the rise in America of the disappearing father? How ought this change your behavior toward women? How might biology affirm that families need fathers, too, in order to have children who bear God’s image to the fullest human extent possible? How does an engaged father on earth prepare our hearts for seeing our Father in heaven? If you need to change something, now’s the time.
Are you a woman? Bearing offspring is a blessing not a curse. Therefore, it’s perfectly appropriate for women to embrace their season as mothers, as singles, and as post-childbearing women. It doesn’t mean “use it or lose it” when it comes to the ruling and subduing part of the blessing. See your life as a series of seasons in which you multiply God’s image in different ways.
Are you a pastor? Teach men to be men and to accept responsibility for their offspring. Allow women to be women in all those varying seasons which our reproductive years present. Herding women into the nursery or the women’s ministry for praying for husbands is not helpful to women who have neither children nor a husband. See them as full image bearers of God, armed with the Word to be fruitful in other ways, to multiply God’s image through teaching, preaching, and evangelism… and encourage them to be fully functioning ministers of God in the Church and in their workplaces. God never withdrew the blessing from women and we should not either.
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Ten Undeniable Truths of Womanhood: