Being a girl is not easy. Don't believe me? Read this!
I have been angry. Seeing how I looked to Deborah and Jael as the rare models for women in authority, I can figure why. How confusing it is to try and lead and yet desire the authority from men to lead, yet they aren't immersed in my passion to take over the calling that I want to pass off to them one day? Does that even make sense? What a mess!
Huldah's outstanding example leaves me a little baffled. I ask myself, do I still want to lead?
If my ministry is not in reference to anyone else's ministry, do I still want it?
What is innately, me? I have observed my heart for the last couple of weeks. I see someone around town and wonder if they know how awesome God is, how worthy He is of trusting and obeying! I still envision Christ followers doing their own brand of the life of God in Christ. I have found myself crying over the city of Salem as long as I can remember being a believer. But the anger, well, I also innately have that too.
Specially intrinsic to me, I don't need to lead - but if someone is overlooked somehow and no one else is taking care of it, that's when I become a leader and I will take care of it.
COMPASSION & ANGER - THE SAME POINT
Emotions are an indication of calling. Compassion drove Jesus. Occasionally anger did too.
Most of the time Jesus didn't relate His work to the ministry of others. A man with leprosy asked Jesus if He was willing to cure him, and Jesus was moved with compassion and said, "I am willing." When Jesus looked over the city of Jerusalem, He was moved with compassion to gather and comfort the people.
Sometimes Jesus referenced His ministry to what others were up to. He was angry while standing in the Court of the Gentiles. He said "My house shall be a house of prayer!" Something important was left undone. This scripture means that outsiders should be in His courts themselves, offering prayers to God from every tribe and kind and collection of people. It is the picture of a world-wide revival - that was God's plan for His temple.
What really lies underneath anger, anyway? Pain. Brokenness. In the article Uncovering the Pain Behind Your Child's Anger from Focus on the Family, contributor Shana Shutte points out that anger is a response to pain, and that Christians sometimes teach children that it is not okay to express anger. Instead, God commanded that Christians be slow to anger, and not to sin in their anger. Anger submitted to God for its ultimate resolution is called "zeal."
What about you? We all experience feelings while embracing our ministry.
"He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works" (Titus 2:14). Whether you have compassion or anger, being broken over what breaks God's heart is worth the price. Does it come out like sympathy, standing in the gap, going to places that are dark and being satisfied by God's will to do so? Then you're alright. What is our responsibility if not to rebel against the absence of God?
I doubt men will ever go through all the stress Christian women do regarding authority. It is so complicated!!! I've certainly hemmed and hawed with women at the various issues involved. Part 3.
I have been angry. Seeing how I looked to Deborah and Jael as the rare models for women in authority, I can figure why. How confusing it is to try and lead and yet desire the authority from men to lead, yet they aren't immersed in my passion to take over the calling that I want to pass off to them one day? Does that even make sense? What a mess!
Huldah's outstanding example leaves me a little baffled. I ask myself, do I still want to lead?
If my ministry is not in reference to anyone else's ministry, do I still want it?
What is innately, me? I have observed my heart for the last couple of weeks. I see someone around town and wonder if they know how awesome God is, how worthy He is of trusting and obeying! I still envision Christ followers doing their own brand of the life of God in Christ. I have found myself crying over the city of Salem as long as I can remember being a believer. But the anger, well, I also innately have that too.
Specially intrinsic to me, I don't need to lead - but if someone is overlooked somehow and no one else is taking care of it, that's when I become a leader and I will take care of it.
COMPASSION & ANGER - THE SAME POINT
Emotions are an indication of calling. Compassion drove Jesus. Occasionally anger did too.
Most of the time Jesus didn't relate His work to the ministry of others. A man with leprosy asked Jesus if He was willing to cure him, and Jesus was moved with compassion and said, "I am willing." When Jesus looked over the city of Jerusalem, He was moved with compassion to gather and comfort the people.
Sometimes Jesus referenced His ministry to what others were up to. He was angry while standing in the Court of the Gentiles. He said "My house shall be a house of prayer!" Something important was left undone. This scripture means that outsiders should be in His courts themselves, offering prayers to God from every tribe and kind and collection of people. It is the picture of a world-wide revival - that was God's plan for His temple.
What really lies underneath anger, anyway? Pain. Brokenness. In the article Uncovering the Pain Behind Your Child's Anger from Focus on the Family, contributor Shana Shutte points out that anger is a response to pain, and that Christians sometimes teach children that it is not okay to express anger. Instead, God commanded that Christians be slow to anger, and not to sin in their anger. Anger submitted to God for its ultimate resolution is called "zeal."
What about you? We all experience feelings while embracing our ministry.
"He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works" (Titus 2:14). Whether you have compassion or anger, being broken over what breaks God's heart is worth the price. Does it come out like sympathy, standing in the gap, going to places that are dark and being satisfied by God's will to do so? Then you're alright. What is our responsibility if not to rebel against the absence of God?
I doubt men will ever go through all the stress Christian women do regarding authority. It is so complicated!!! I've certainly hemmed and hawed with women at the various issues involved. Part 3.
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