Sisters, the world is not won by our compromise with it. It is not drawn to Christ because we have learned to look, speak, think, and live more like everyone around us. The world does not respect or admire us when we compromise the Word of God. When we cross the boundaries established by Scripture, embrace what God calls sin, and begin to look and act like those around us, we are not making Christianity more attractive. We are making our profession of faith appear hollow and our Christianity unnecessary.
Jesus calls His people the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Salt is distinct from that which it preserves, and light is distinct from darkness. We cannot fulfill either calling by becoming indistinguishable from the world around us. The world desperately needs Christians who actually believe God, obey His Word, and live differently because they belong to Christ.
But too often, we do not.
Frequently, it isn’t because we don’t know what God commands. We know. We simply do not want the cost that sometimes comes with obeying Him. We want to be accepted. We want to appear reasonable. We do not want to be thought strange, old-fashioned, legalistic, submissive, prudish, or extreme. So instead of allowing Scripture to correct us, we begin looking for ways to soften what it says.
Sisters, we have compromised for far too long. Previous generations did so as well, and we are dealing with the consequences of their sins. Our sons and daughters will likewise deal with the consequences of ours.
There is so much that we must repent of: our acceptance of feminism and our resentment of the responsibilities as wives, mothers, and homemakers that the Lord has blessed us with. We have been immodest and profane. We have rebelled against our fathers and our husbands, despised motherhood, and treated children as burdens.
We have no wisdom apart from Scripture, yet we have lived as though we possess wisdom of our own and have little need of God’s Word. It is time to repent. It is time to believe God again and to be the salt and light that Christ commands us to be.
Return to the Word of God. If you have failed to believe it, repent, believe, and obey. If you have never read the Bible from beginning to end, begin today. Read several chapters each day or listen to an audio Bible when reading is difficult. Do not rush merely to complete a schedule. Read carefully, asking God to place His truth deeply within your mind and heart. When you do not understand a verse, word, or passage, investigate it. Consider its immediate context, the surrounding chapters, and the teaching of Scripture as a whole.
Use sound commentaries written by men who honor the inspiration, authority, and sufficiency of God’s Word. The commentaries of John Gill and Matthew Henry, as well as Charles Spurgeon’s expositions, can be helpful starting points. There are others also. Many trusted resources are available freely online or inexpensively in digital form.
But do not read the Bible merely to find support for what you already want to believe. Never attempt to bend or redefine Scripture until it makes you feel better about your compromise. Allow Scripture to correct your assumptions, confront your sinful compromise, and change you into a woman who reflects the truth of God’s Holy Word.
Sisters, believe that God is who He says He is. Believe what God says about marriage, submission, family, and children. Believe without fail what He proclaims about homemaking, modesty, femininity, and the responsibilities of older and younger women.
Believe that His ways are wiser than ours, for they are. Always and in every way.
And pray. Pray to believe. Pray to obey. Pray that His will might be your own.
When needed, repent and obey.
May God forgive us for our compromises and for wanting to appear reasonable to the world. May we cease compromising and be holy women of God.
The world needs women who honor the Lord and demonstrate the beauty of faithful Christian living. A faithful wife not only honors her husband, but she also strengthens him and helps him fulfill his duties by her faithfulness.
A faithful mother raises men and women who will honor the Lord in their roles and callings and who will be a blessing to the world rather than a scourge on the church and the world.
A faithful homemaker creates a home that provides peace, nurturing, comfort, love, faithfulness to Christ, hospitality, discipleship, and rest to her family and to others.
A faithful older woman teaches younger women what is good, not as she defines it but as God, in Titus 2, defined it.
A compromised woman does none of these but leaves a path of destruction in her wake.
Let us return to the Word of God. Let us believe it, submit to it, and live it without shame because the world does not need our compromise. It needs faithful women, daughters, mothers, wives, aunts, grandmothers, and friends to demonstrate what a woman changed by God and defined by God really is, and how much of a blessing such a woman can be.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Soli Deo Gloria!
