by Jess Connell · April 22, 2015

First. Why am I talking about this? Don’t I normally talk about mom stuff?

Dear Mom in the throes of raising little ones, here’s the thing:

YOU’VE GOTTA FIGURE THIS STUFF OUT.

Our culture is ramming gender-sameness down our throats.

Male and female are exactly the same. You’re not allowed to say boys and girls have anything different about them. Got it? ALL. EXACTLY. THE. SAME.

Except when they’re not.

Male and female are not the same. If I’m a boy, I don’t have to use the male bathroom. I can use the female bathroom if I feel like it. If I feel like a girl, even if I have boy parts, I’m not a boy, I’m a girl. Got it? NOT. EXACTLY. THE. SAME.

Do you see it?

Our culture is CONFUSED, mama.

And you’ve got to sort it out, so that you know what to do right there in your home.

But how did Jimmy Carter get mixed up with all this?

Well, he wrote an awful piece about leaving his Southern Baptist membership behind, because of sex slavery and genital mutilation. Yeah. He seriously wrote a piece connecting those two things. Except no Southern Baptist I know thinks sex slavery and genital mutilation are good things. None. You know what Southern Baptists DID affirm?

Here’s a quote for those who are interested:

“Women participate equally with men in the priesthood of all believers. Their role is crucial, their wisdom, grace and commitment exemplary. Women are an integral part of our Southern Baptist boards, faculties, mission teams, writer pools, and professional staffs. We affirm and celebrate their Great Commission impact.

While Scripture teaches that a woman’s role is not identical to that of men in every respect, and that pastoral leadership is assigned to men, it also teaches that women are equal in value to men.”

That equals genital mutilation and sex slavery, how?

Because in Jimmy Carter’s world (and all too often in the culture around us), a man being the head of his home, called to nurture his wife as his own body, and his wife submitting to her husband as the church submits to Christ, is the same as wicked societies that suppress, humiliate, abuse, and degrade women.

The truth we as moms must grapple with is this:

God created them MALE and FEMALE.

From the beginning of human existence, He introduced differentiation between the genders. Different roles. Different responsibilities.

For you, as the mom of little ones, you have a choice:

  • Will you join the confused culture and teach your daughters the battle cry of “I can do anything a boy can do, only better?”
  • Will you join the confused culture and teach your children, “you can be anything you want to be, even the opposite gender?”
  • Will you join the confused culture, and teach your sons and daughters that there are no innate differences between male and female?
  • Will you join the confused culture and teach your children that male headship is the same as female subjugation?

Or will you affirm the rich, nuanced approach of Scripture, that:

  • women aren’t collectively to submit to all men, but that wives are each to submit to their own husbands?
  • male and female are different and unique genders, each with their own roles and responsibilities within marriage
  • males are to look to God the Father and to Christ as they lead their homes
  • men are to love their wives like Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her
  • females are to look to Christ’s submission to the Father, and the church’s submission to Christ, as they help their husbands and serve their families
  • that these same familial guidelines for male leadership apply within our larger “Family”– in the Body of Christ

What are you going to teach your children?

Mama, you’ve gotta get clear about this.

You can’t be wishy-washy on these topics, or else it is very likely that you will go far far far astray from Scripture in this confused culture.

It is not just “gender issues” that at stake here.

This is the very heart of the Gospel– that Christ, the sacrificial groom, left freedom and gave up everything, relinquishing His rights, in order to serve, love, nourish, and lead His chosen Bride… and that we as His church respond by joyful submission, giving up our own identity to become one with Him.

God custom-built marriage so that it would contain this “mystery” of the Gospel and so that each individual marriage would serve as a lesser picture pointing to a greater reality.

  • Your sons need to each hear that when he rises up and chooses a bride, he is to be committed to, and to give himself up for her… to serve, love, and lead her and whatever children God graciously gives, looking to Christ as his example… Remembering that he is called to nurture and nourish her In the way that he cares for his own body.
  • Your daughters need to hear that God wants them to rise up and serve the Lord. If they agree to become a man’s wife, they are agreeing to help him with powerful assistance (as the Holy Spirit is called a helper), submit to him in his leadership of their home, and look to Christ’s joyful submission with His eye on future joy as her example.
  • Your children, growing up in this gender-confused culture, need to hear and understand that God has purposefully designed men and women with different characteristics and different roles, equal in dignity, but distinct in responsibility.

The future of your marriage, your home, and your children depend on your crystal-clear understanding of these principles.

IN THE COMMENTS, SHARE:

  • HAVE YOU SHARED WITH YOUR CHILDREN ABOUT THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE GOSPEL & THE DISTINCT, GOD-DESIGNED ROLES IN MARRIAGE FOR HUSBANDS AND WIVES?

Subscribe to my newsletter, and I’ll send monthly encouragement — full of truth and grace for moms. SIGN UP, SO WE CAN KEEP IN TOUCH:

Tags: biblical teachingculturegender roles in marriagethe Gospelwhat does the Bible say about sex?