Women of the Year

I am very excited today to give three presentations in the women’s track at the Defending the Faith Conference here in Tennessee. This is the first time that we have offered a women’s track at one of our conferences, and I have spent almost a year researching and preparing for these presentations and our new outreach to women called “Answers for Women.” I thought I would give you a little sneak peek at some of the information I’ll be sharing with the ladies today. If you read my blog last Thursday, you got a sneak peek at my presentation on parenting entitled, “Are Your Kids Already Gone? Parenting to Build a Faith Your Kids Will Keep?” Today’s blog is a sneak peek at my presentation on womanhood entitled, “Biblical Womanhood: Reclaiming Genesis as the Foundation.”

According to the Gallup poll, these were the ten most admired women in 2009:

1. Hillary Clinton
2. Sarah Palin
3. Oprah Winfrey
4. Michelle Obama
5. Condoleezza Rice
6. Queen Elizabeth II
7. Margaret Thatcher/Maya Angelou (tie)
8. Angela Merkel/Elin Nordegren Woods (tie)

Why are these women admired by our society? They have positions of power, prestige, and popularity. Many have greatly contributed to society in a positive manner.

But one thing I noticed about the list was that not one of these women was admired based on their care of the home, their husband, or their children. According to Scripture, home is to be the top priority for women (Proverbs 31:10–31, Titus 2:5). It’s obvious that what secular society admires is not what God admires, and this has a destructive influence on our ideas about womanhood according to God’s Word.

How would this list compare to the most admired women in the Bible? (Keep in mind this is just a partial list!)

• Mary (mother of Jesus)
• Mary Magdalene
• Sarah
• Hannah
• Priscilla
• Rahab
• Ruth
• Elizabeth
• Esther
• Lydia
• Abigail
• Deborah

These weren’t women of power and prestige (for the most part)—some of them were even prostitutes! Yet these women impacted their world. They gave advice, bore children who were in the ancestral line of Jesus or who proclaimed Jesus’ coming, acted courageously, put themselves in danger, helped their husband in ministry, remained faithful, helped the early church, and helped Jesus when he was on earth. However, none of them would be on the “most admired” list today or even in their own time, but they left a lasting legacy that endured much longer than their time here on earth.

There is a great contrast between what the world values in women (which has temporary impact) and what God values in women (which has eternal impact). Let us strive to be women to whom God will someday say, “well done, good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:21)