Candlewood Church in Omaha, NE is going through a blog series focusing on Biblical Womanhood. In this blog, Dani Christie will take a deeper look on what the Bible says about Holy Women of the Present.
Holy Women of the Past
The holy women of the past. Have you read about them? 1 Peter tells us that these women were beautiful in their behavior. These women:
- hoped in God
- acted gently and with a peaceful spirit
- submitted to their husbands
- did what was right without giving into fear
They lived out these attributes that are of great worth to God (1 Peter 3:4-5).
Holy Women of the Present
As Christian women, we are the holy women of the present. Christ’s sacrifice for us has made us holy, setting us apart for God and His purposes (Hebrews 10:10). What an honor! Not every woman walking around on the earth is a holy woman (although there is room in this exclusive group for any woman who would believe in Jesus and make him Lord of her life!).
Kathleen Nelson, one of the speakers at our recent Biblical Womanhood Retreat, illustrated how special it is to be a part of this group: Imagine every person in the world is standing at one large gathering. First, all the men are told to sit down. There is creaking of chairs as half the population returns to their seats. Next, all the women who are not believers in Christ are told to sit down. More chair squeaking and adjusting of seats as more sit. Take a look around at who is still standing. It is only the believing women. God has set these women apart as holy, a special group. These are the holy women of the present. We are the holy women of this generation.
Walking in This Identity
If you are a Christian woman, do you see yourself as holy and set apart? This is an honor not earned by ourselves, but gifted to us by God through Christ. Our responsibility is to walk in this identity. 1 Peter 1 tells us that because God is holy, our conduct must be holy. How do we do that? How do we learn to walk in the ways the Bible says to live?
Because we are set apart from the world, we cannot look to the world to tell us how to live. We cannot look to the world to set the standard of what’s acceptable for how we speak, interact with our husbands, mother our children, make ourselves beautiful, the list goes on. As the Bible says in the previously shared 1 Peter 3 passage, we need to be looking to the holy women who have gone before us and learn from them.
The Bible also calls upon holy women in Titus 2:3-5 to learn and teach. “In the same way, older women are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not slaves to excessive drinking. They are to teach what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands and to love their children, to be self-controlled, pure, workers at home, kind, and in submission to their husbands, so that God’s word will not be slandered.” We are to be taught by women walking ahead of us who are rooted in the Word of God and to teach the women behind us how to conduct ourselves according to what the Bible says.
Learning from Those Before
Kathleen shared that it’s all too easy to run to Google when we need help. There are answers ready and voices available (too many, in fact) with a quick search. On the other side of the text on the screen is likely a stranger with no real investment in our lives. Even further, we do not see any actual fruit of their own life to validate if this person is someone we should be taking advice from at all. For example, are we seeking parenting opinions from strangers whose kids we only see in videos of what they choose to share? Instead, we should be seeking opinions from godly people ahead of us who we have seen in reality. An internet stranger also doesn’t require any real accountability. When we head to Google, we aren’t required to share our heart, confess any sin, or have any follow through. When we meet with a real person who sees our life, we sometimes do need to exercise those practices.
How are you positioning yourself to being taught by a woman ahead of you? Who do you watch as an example to follow in her conduct? Do you attend a small group or women’s events? Is there a godly woman in your life who you reach out to when you need wisdom? A simple first step is to intentionally and regularly talk to an older woman at church or church events and begin to build a connection with her. If you need insight, ask her your questions or if she’d be available to get together to talk about something further. We need to position ourselves to be taught by the godly women we know.
Teaching The Younger
While you may be the younger woman in some areas, you may be the older woman in other contexts. Most likely, there is a woman close by who is behind you in season or spiritual maturity. You may also have daughters who are your younger women. To point to the previously shared Titus passage, the Lord commands us to teach (2:3-5).
People are more likely to listen when they are cared about. Is there a woman in your church or small group that you can work on building a relationship with? How can you come alongside her in her season? This could look like asking questions about her life, remembering what she shares, and asking about it later. It could look like praying for her in what she’s working through and sending a quick text to tell her that you’re praying.
The delivery of how we teach is also important. Proverbs 31:26 describes a woman who “gives instruction with kindness.” When we teach other women, we should approach it with humility and gentleness. One helpful practice is to use the phrases:
- “I would encourage you with…”
- “I would challenge you to…”
instead of using harsher words. The tone and delivery in teaching others really matters.
How can you make yourself more available to be a teacher to younger women? Can you regularly invite women into your home, giving them a glimpse into what godly mothering looks like and giving them opportunities to ask the questions they have? Can you be more open with the women in your small group about what God is doing in your life and be an example of walking with Him How can you make younger women feel seen and cared about by you? We need to connect with younger women and make room for them to feel comfortable asking their questions.
Sometimes we are the younger woman who needs to be taught. Sometimes we are the older woman who is responsible to teach. We are both in different contexts. But in all circumstances, we are the holy women of the present.
- Let us share in displaying the attributes God considers to be of great worth that the holy women of the past handed down generation after generation.
- Let us make ourselves beautiful in deeds and hoping in God.
- Let us learn to walk with the Lord more deeply and teach other women to do the same.
- Let us glorify God and thank Him for this great honor of being the holy women of the present.
Additional Information
If you would like to learn more about Candlewood Church in Omaha, NE or have questions about Biblical Womanhood, please contact info@candlewoodchurch.org.
Continue reading about Biblical Womanhood:
- Inner Beauty by Christina Parish
- Good Deeds by Stephanie Corral
- Wifehood by Julie Mauk
- Motherhood by Emilee Brandl
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