The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in 1 Thessalonians 2:7-12,
"Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, so we cared for you... For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children..."
Paul likens his comportment among the Thessalonians first as a nursing mother and then a father. Why the extra ink and not just combine his thoughts with the metaphor "parents"? Apparently Paul wanted to articulate both the aspects of a mother's care for her children and the nurturing qualities of a father's care, which would include encouragement, comfort and prompting (urging). He wanted to point to qualities of the two genders, qualities not necessarily shared to the same degree and generally known (by honest people) to be present in one gender of parents over the other.
It appears distinctions between what a father provides children and what a mother provides children is to be rejected in many quarters today. We live in a day where seeing the differences between motherhood and fatherhood is simply unacceptable in polite company. With the irrational rise of feminism, and the subordination of that which is exclusive to the male gender, differences are not to be thought of. We have a generation today, that when raised, the boys were encouraged to play with dolls and girls were encouraged to play with toy trucks.
It appears to many that masculinity is the culprit and cause of much that is wrong with half the population today and therefore the eradication of it will lead to many social ills being eliminated. Note the attack on football, the attacks on movies that showcase masculine strengths portrayed in combat, etc. Those of us who find this perspective absurd and frustrating refer to the "wussification of America." One popular radio talk show host refers to men who have bought into this notion as members of "the new castratti".
I will take up Paul's rejection of such notions. When it comes to ills in our society, Paul recognized that all people are sinful. Every one of us. Male and female. Real social ills are a result of our individual sinful natures expressed individually and corporately. Since the world rejects the notion of "sin", as it looks about for an explanation of the problems in our culture, masculinity has become one of those things offered up as the cause for what plagues people.
As we know, God created us male and female. When he created us he said, "that's good!" Good became bad when Adam and Eve rejected God, turned their backs on him and sinned. Mankind's fall in the garden resulted in some horrific changes. One of those was the acquisition of a sinful nature by both Adam and Eve they would pass down to future generations. Maleness and femaleness was not the cause of the fall and have nothing to do societal ills today. It may be that the corruption of maleness and femaleness has caused problems in the world, but the same can be said of being a human with a sinful nature. Gender identified traits given us by our Creator are not the problem. The Scriptures acknowledge both genders and, beyond recognizing the very real and legitimate differences, point to them, as Paul's passage here does. The Scriptures never suggest that sin or "social problems" arise from gender specific qualities. Rejection of God is always identified as the cause of sin.
The rejection of how God made us, male and female, is to reject God as our Creator. Folks who would eradicate the differences between the genders in our society (a project certainly doomed to failure) become a cause of problems in our culture as they rebel against God as Creator in their promotion of sin (as in the "gay" movement, etc.)
Here are a few passages that acknowledge our differences as male and female, with differing instructions for each: 1 Timothy 2:8-15; 1 Timothy 3:11; Titus 2:1-8; 1 Peter 3:1-8.
If you are a woman, celebrate your femininity! If you are a man, celebrate your masculinity! Be a woman! Be a man! God made you to celebrate life in him, the life he designed when he made us male and female!
Excuse my French, but Vive la différence!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
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