But I Don't Like Women

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.” – Isaiah 55:8.  If I had gotten my way, I would have gone a different direction in life.  I’m so glad God is in charge.

Ladies, I’m going to be vulnerable today and completely honest with you: I’ve never really liked women.  They’ve always annoyed me like no other creature on this planet.  Since the days of middle school pettiness to high school flakes to adult gossips and superficiality, women bother me.  So when God began pushing me to minister to and teach other women, I pushed back.  They were not the group I wanted to hang with.

Many of the women’s ministries I had been involved with in the past were mostly what I would call “huff and fluff”.  They huffed a little about God’s Word and then added in the fluff to appeal to their flesh.  They would look at a few verses and then hastily apply it to their lives.  Always trying to reassure the fragile female ego that they are beautiful, loved and “okay”.  This did nothing for me.  I knew the sin in my life was not beautiful, I didn’t understand what love was and I certainly did not feel “okay”.  I longed for something more.

I tried to avoid women’s groups most of my life.  Then God began to push.  He pushed me with his Word and by using persistent believers he placed in my life (if you don’t have pushy godly friends in your life, you need some).   The suggestions of others surprised me and I heard myself say more than once, loud and clear, “But, I don’t like women!”  I said it to others and I said it to God.  However, God always gets his way…this woman who did not like women’s groups found herself at the front of one. 

I have been ministering to women in one form or another for several years now.  The heart-journey God has taken me on in this area has been amazing, but one of the most important things he has shown me is this: I do not really dislike women.  What!?!  You may think this is silly, but this came as a great shock to me and I’ve only realized it in the last few years.  Here is the truth of the matter: it is easy to dislike someone until God calls you to love them. 

What I do dislike in women is the sin they display.  The attributes of pettiness, superficiality, gossiping, interest in material possessions and self-indulgence are all sins women fall prey to easily (myself included!).  These are what were turning me off of my own gender and what I was allowing to cloud my view of them.  I was not seeing them for what they were - women in desperate need of the qualities of Jesus Christ.  If they were saved, they didn’t know how to act like it.  If they were not saved, Jesus was their only hope.  How could I let my distaste for sins (that I often displayed myself) get in my way of showing them the truth found in God’s Word?  I repent of this attitude I held for so long.

Now the other side of this is vital!  It doesn’t end with simply not disliking women.  It goes further because it has to.  I can now honestly say that I love women and I love ministering to women.  Why?  For the treasure involved.  Little else in all of creation is more beautiful than a godly woman.  If you want to see something rare and spectacular, find a woman who fears the Lord above all else in her life.  Find a woman who is humble and eager to serve.  Who fills her marriage with grace, trains up her children in scripture and is an encourager to those around her.  Find a woman who is diligent in her work and whose mouth is full of wisdom and solid counsel.  A woman whose strength is found in her gentle nature and quiet spirit.  Find a woman called by God and devoted to following after her Savior, Jesus Christ. 

This is the woman God declares praise-worthy (wow!) in Proverbs 31: “Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”  A woman like this is said to be “far more precious than jewels” (Proverbs 31:10), “the crown of her husband” (Proverbs 14:4) and possessing a beauty that is “precious to God” (1 Peter 3:4).  I agree, a godly woman is a treasure beyond measure and brings great glory to her God.  This is what I want to help women display more of in their lives.
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The women in the fluffy studies from years ago were in desperate need of understanding more about Jesus.  They needed deep biblical guidance, not craft time and pretty centerpieces.  Women of today are no different.  They need to be shown the riches that are found in Jesus alone.  It is in him we find our value…in ourselves…and in each other.  I will minister to women for the rest of my life, whether formally or informally.  God has taught me to love them and now I can do nothing else.