God's Truth: The Roles of Men and Women — Russell Kelfer

The lesson you're about to hear is designed to help you in your spiritual pilgrimage. We pray that this will be a blessing in your life. Our teacher is Russell Kelfer of the Into His Likeness radio broadcast.

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We return this morning to our study of Satan's lies and God's truth about the basics of our faith and the resulting double-mindedness that seems to plague us as Christians. James called it spiritual adultery, friendship with the world, believing the world's lies.

And he said to buy them is to be the enemy of God, the absence of a pure heart. We've been examining the last few weeks Satan's cunning attack on the home and found that, as always, he is trying to destroy it at every turn.

He has attacked the holiness of the physical relationship between man and woman as never before, thus attacking the spiritual truth that a relationship of commitment to Jesus Christ is the only access to fellowship with God.

He has attacked the permanence of marriage by cheapening divorce to an acceptable alternative, and thus defying the spiritual principle of the eternal security of the believer. And thirdly, he has attacked the home as the center of society by taking the husband from the home through divorce, taking the wife from the home into the marketplace, and taking the children from the home sometimes into godless state-controlled daycare centers or schools that is designed to build a humanistic philosophy into their lives from the very beginning.

Now even Satan is promoting the rights of children, further undermining the authority of the parent as never before in history. And why such a blatant attack on the home? As we learned two weeks ago, it is because the home represents God's basic training camp where godly parents are to teach their children when they rise up, when they go to sleep, as they walk by the way, they're to teach them the word of God.

It's to be on the doorposts of their house, on the gates, as frontlets between their eyes. And secondly, because the home reflects God's picture, his picture book of the most dominant spiritual expression of himself, God as father.

If Satan can destroy that image by removing the father from the home, he has won another major victory. But he has another strategy as well, and this is where we take up this morning, and that is to destroy or reverse the scriptural roles of man and woman.

If the world can be made to believe that there is no difference, that there is no design, that there is no purpose, that there are no distinctives, that there is no authority in the male-female relationship, then he is able to tear down the last stronghold of the family as we know it, and the last visible portrait of the Godhead and of God's relationship to man.

Now this may not be our most popular lesson, but strangely enough, those of you who are expecting to be offended may be the least offended. The questions are relevant ones. I would ask them, number one, what about E .R .A.?

Is it of God? Number two, is woman inferior? Number three, does God have a plan to liberate women? Number four, are women spiritually weaker than men? The answers are no, no, yes, no. Now if you can remember the questions, you've got to start.

Historical Oppression and Christ's Elevation of Women

But the issues are really more complex than the questions, and I think we need to see it in the light of God's overall perspective first. I believe the whole key to understanding the course of women's rights in history is to see Satan's pendulum of satanic extremes and what has resulted.

Prior to the time of Christ, women had become, in general, possessions or objects to be used, sold, acquired, or discarded at the drop of a hat. As one example, a devout Jewish man, as he went to prayer each morning, would always pray this prayer, O God, I thank you that I am not a Gentile, that I am not a slave, and that I am not a woman.

According to Jewish law, a woman had no legal rights. A man could discard his wife if she put too much salt in his food, if she went out with her head uncovered, or if she spoke disrespectfully of her in-laws.

She was not his equal. In the Greek world, it was no better. Women took no part in public life, never appeared at meals or social occasions. The wife had her own apartment, but no one but her husband was allowed to enter.

As one Greek writer put it, the purpose was that she might, quote, see as little as possible, hear as little as possible, and ask as little as possible. The Greek expected his wife to run his home, care for his children, and leave him alone.

She was not his equal. In Rome, it was even worse. Women were bought and sold, married and divorced as a perishable commodity, definitely not equal. Wrong. And if you look at the chart, you will see that before Jesus came onto the scene, we had what existed, EMO, extreme male oppression, distinction without equality, authority without equality.

Wrong. Then the Lord Jesus Christ came onto the scene and died on Calvary. And Jesus Christ then liberated women. He came to bring equality in its total purest form. But as the years have progressed, there has been a battle waging.

Between the church being affected by society, the pendulum has swung in one direction, and then society affected by the church has served to be a restraining force to bring it back the other way. But now that momentum has been gained, and we have what is called ERA.

But what we have today is equality without distinctives, equality without authority, the emergence of role reversal. And rather than male oppression, we have male confusion, or mass confusion. It is into this atmosphere of male oppression that God sent his Son, Jesus Christ.

Part of his redemptive work was to elevate the role of woman to the exclusive place designed in eternity past for her. It was to be a role of total equality. In Christ, there was to be neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female.

The barriers of inequity were to be abolished at Calvary. Never again should woman, by God's standards, be placed in the position of being spiritually inferior creatures, children of God, equal. And at Calvary, the real Equal Rights Amendment was passed once and for all.

Equality, Diversity, and Authority in God's Design

Now how God's Equal Rights Amendment works is this. God governs by means of a theocracy. And the Equal Rights Amendment was ratified at Calvary. The Father represents the executive branch of the government.

He is responsible for plan and design. The Spirit represents the legislative branch. He is responsible for execution and detail. The Son represents the judicial branch. He is responsible for judgment and deliverance.

Father, Son, Spirit, totally in harmony, totally agreed, ratified. This is a perfect design for the home in terms of government. The husband, plan and design. The wife, execution and detail. God, the unseen guest, judgment and deliverance.

That's God's plan. So equality is the cornerstone of Calvary. God is no respecter of persons. God never planned women to be relegated again to anything less than perfect total equality. And on the cross, he settled the issue once and for all.

Then what's the problem? Why not support ERA? The problem is that God's total picture is bigger. It has three parts. For simplicity, we'll call it EDA. EDA is this, equality by divine decree, recognizing diversity by divine design, implemented under authority by divine dynamic.

Equality, diversity, authority. Totally in balance, totally in harmony, and it leads to a PhD in human relations. Power, harmony and direction under God's control. Equality. What is equality? Equality is the absence of any classification in the heart of God which would separate men from women, relative to value, potential or importance in the kingdom of God.

In other words, in the heart of God, men and women are totally, completely equal. No difference. So in essence, men and women are perfectly equal. However, equality does not destroy diversity. In at least four areas, men and women are different.

I don't know if you knew that or not, but you're not the same. Diversity defined is the presence of divine distinctives in appearance, function, personality and strength to perfectly allow man and woman to portray and fulfill their God-appointed roles.

Their difference does not degrade their equality, it enhances it. For mankind is not whole unless both parts be together. But different. In the beginning, God created mankind. Male and female created he then.

Distinctive Appearance and Gendered Presentation

Now let's face it, men and women are different in these four areas. Appearance, function, personality and strength. It doesn't take a real genius to admit that men and women are made different. Just look around.

How many of you can spot the men in the group? Would you raise your hand? How many of you think you can find the women in the group? All right. Very good. So there is some difference. We will accept that.

God's basic plan of construction came from a different blueprint. And for several reasons, God abhors the concept of the unisex look. In other words, the first principle is that God designed appearance, male and female, to be different.

Two illustrations are only in passing Deuteronomy 22 .5. The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man. Neither shall a man put on a woman's garment. For all that do so are abomination to the Lord thy God.

Why? Because it violates the distinctive of God's creation. Secondly, the hair, 1 Corinthians 11, 14 through 15. Doth not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?

If a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given to her for a covering. Fortunately, we are not going to get into that passage. Life is too short. The only purpose for reading it is for you to recognize God did intend there to be a divine difference.

Okay? And there is a reason for the difference. It doesn't make a woman equal to dress like a man, to cut her hair like a man. She's already equal. Makes her a fool, disobedient to God. And this kind of thing, this unisex look, is the touchstone of the homosexual movement, and it is an integral part of the women's rights movement.

We can wear what they wear, they say, look like they look. And in some cases, men are doing the same thing. Why? A quest for equality by rebelling against God's divine distinctives. Women were designed to be feminine in dress, feminine in hairstyle.

Men were designed to be masculine in dress, masculine in hairstyle. Not that you cannot adjust to the style, so long as the styles do not blur the distinctives. The second difference is functional. I hate to tell you this, guys, but no matter what society does to blur the distinctives, chances are you're not going to have the next baby.

Functional Differences in Childbearing, Work, and Protection

Equal, but different. The reason is because women bringing children into the world were designed by God to portray a spiritual truth of the new birth. Christ must plant the seed. We can't. We carry the seed.

We see life develop, but we cannot implement it. We cannot begin the process. That's the reason for it, and it must always be that way. There's a difference nationally. You read in Deuteronomy 3 and in Joshua 1 that the men were to press over armed and to take the enemy, but the wives and the children are to remain behind in place for a purpose, for a reason, not weaker, but different, a different function.

The reason was it was a portrait of spiritual warfare. The man was to be responsible for the spiritual care of his household. Vocationally, it's different. Men's role is provisional. Women's role is creative.

Man was to work by the spread of his brow, labor. Women was to have pain in childbirth. That's what God told after the fall. Adam was to dress the garden and keep it in the first place. Woman was to look well to the ways of her household.

Man was to be diligent in business, Proverbs 22. Woman was to care for her children. Man was to know the state of his flocks and herds. Women were to give meat to their household, to care for their children.

Man was to till the land and bring forth bread. Women was to sow and even sell what they sow. But there was a difference. There are obvious exceptions. Some of you in this room know that you are involved in obvious exceptions, but even those exceptions can conform to the principle.

In religious roles, the roles of religious leadership were designed to be given to men. More than 98 of all the positions of responsibility for spiritual government in the Old Testament and New, God chose men for the role.

Why? Because they were better. Now, all of you know better than that. Smarter, all of you know better than that. History shows that was not so, but they were fulfilling God's design, that man was designed to be aggressive, bold, objective, and leadership material.

Not because he had it in him, but because God designed it for a purpose. The home is another example. Man was to provide and to protect. Woman was to care and to administer. The third area is personality.

Personality Differences and Complementary Strengths

Men and women aren't the same in personality. Men, by design, are objective, emotionally insensitive, by and large. You women will go along with that, won't you? Aggressive, the initiator. View life from a long-range perspective, inattentive to details.

Their goals are to be strong, to conquer, to be vocal, to be heard. Drawn to that which is dogmatic, clinical, provable. Women, on the other hand, were designed to be subjective in nature, sensitive, to be the responder to the overtures of another, responder to the directions of another.

Interested in short-range goals, attentive to details. Their goals, rather than to be strong and vocal, was to be quiet and gentle. Rather than dogmatic and clinical, to be abstract and experiential in nature.

Different, but equal. I looked through the scripture this week, and I just took a concordance, and I took all the words in one column that define men's role and men's responsibilities, and took another for the women.

And I came up with words like this for the men. Be vigilant, able to teach, fight a good fight as soldiers, run the race, rule the family, lead the church, endure hardness, quitchy like men, be strong.

For the women, I found these words. Be keepers at home, faithful, holy behavior, love your husbands, discreet, obedient, submissive, chaste, pure, meek, quiet, modest. Different, but equal. The fourth area is one of strength.

Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Strength

1 Peter 3, verse 7 in the Amplified Translation says,. In the same way you married men should live considerately with your wives, with an intelligent recognition of the marriage relation. Honoring the woman is physically the weaker, but realizing you are joint heirs of the grace of life.

Spiritually you are equal. Now I'm going to get some flack here. We'll define the word strength, maximum capacity for accomplishment. If that is true, physically men are stronger. Now if you don't believe, I saw an article in the newspaper last week where a group of women were going in for weight lifting.

And their avowed goal was that they can develop the same kind of muscles a man can. And they showed a picture of two of them and they... Anyhow, anyhow, excuse me. But very few of you ladies would like to go out and play the Los Angeles Rams this afternoon.

In fact, very few of you gentlemen would like to either. But the point is, there is a difference physically. God designed it that way. However, and here's where I'm going to get the flack, I believe emotionally women are stronger.

I believe physically men are stronger, but emotionally women are stronger. You say, now wait a minute, my wife cries at the drop of a hat. That's proof. The word strength, remember, means maximum capacity.

A woman has the capacity to feel, respond, and express emotions that a man doesn't have. And if we could come to a place, who would argue with the fact that a woman has the greatest capacity for emotion by design?

They're sensitive, subjective, and emotional. Men need to learn from and lean on the emotional strength of their wives. Because women are sensitive. They are the feelers that go out and sense the spirit and the atmosphere about them.

We need to learn from them, use their emotions, learn right from wrong in this area. We mistake sensitivity for weakness. Not so. So I believe that men are stronger physically, but women are stronger emotionally.

And I believe likewise the scripture teaches that we are equal spiritually, but different. Because God has equipped us with different capabilities, we are different spiritually, but equal. Because of man's objectivity, aggressive nature, boldness, long-range goals, and authority by design, he is equipped and commanded by the church, and it usually excels in the areas of teaching, particularly teaching men, preaching, witnessing, memorizing.

Usually it's easier for men to memorize than women. Understanding doctrine. That's why you go to churches where doctrine is taught almost exclusively, and you will find a male-oriented, male-controlled church almost completely.

You go to churches that are long on prayer, meditation, and worship, and you find oftentimes female-dominated congregations. But there is a balance in the body. Men are usually stronger at teaching, preaching, witnessing, memorizing, doctrine, and leadership.

That's the way God designed it. But they are not stronger spiritually. Because usually speaking, women are stronger when it comes to discernment. They can sense a phony. They can sense a problem. They are more discerning than men.

Much more discerning. They have the ability. They have the ability. They have a greater capacity for worship. They have a greater capacity many times for prayer because of the subjectivity and sensitivity of their nature.

They have, and here's the key, they usually have a greater capacity for meditation, which is the key to spiritual growth. And one reason why in many churches women grow so much faster than men. Because women have the capacity to subjectively take the Word of God and apply it to their lives and meditate.

And that's the key to spiritual growth. Women have a greater capacity, where men have a greater capacity to learn facts, doctrine, women have a greater capacity to apply facts. That's the reason oftentimes when the lessons are over, some of the guys will come up and say, well, you know, I agreed with this, but I didn't agree with that.

And I think I understand this. And what do you think about this? And it usually has to do with the theology related to the passage. Meanwhile, a woman will come up and say, oh, God just really tugged at my heartstrings and God moved me and I'm going to do this.

Well, we need the balance, but we sure need what women have to offer in terms of taking the Word and doing something with it. And then lastly, women are equipped for service. Unfortunately, men are usually good at standing back and telling others what to do.

But our lack of attentiveness to detail oftentimes mean that in the realm of plain service, the women have to go in and complete the job. So men and women are equal, but different. In essence, the same in function, diverse in authority, given divine order.

Authority in Marriage and the Church

Now, if men and women are equal, but different, how can God best utilize their innate differences? How can He build on their spiritual equality and yet maintain order in the home and in the church? The chart you see up there now has to do with God's divine order of authority.

If men and women are equal, but different, God had to do something to maintain order and portray a picture. So what He did was place a divine order of authority. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 3,. But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, that the head of a woman is the man, the head of Christ is God.

Divine progression, God the Father over God the Son, God the Son over the husband, the husband over the wife, the wife over the children. Now listen, if this did not offend Jesus, Jesus never once complained that the Father made His choices.

Jesus never once complained His choice, rather, was to obey. You say, was He equal? Of course He was equal, but He was under authority by design. And if God the Son never complained about being under the authority of the Father, and this passage says, for the same reasons you wives are under your husband's authority, then why should this thought be so offensive to us in the body of Christ?

It has nothing to do with equality. It is making use of diversity under authority. You see the principle? Equal, but under authority. Equal, but under authority. These two equal, but different creatures, God said, we will take and rank them in a system of authority, utilizing equally their strengths in portraying vividly His spiritual picture of His relationship to us.

And that's what He did. Not because of inequality, but to make use of diversity. Now what is authority? A dirty word in today's society. Authority, the divine progression of responsibility created by God to portray His message, to maintain order in the church and in the home, and to utilize man's and woman's distinctives without compromising their quality.

That is authority. Now what is to keep men and women on an equal footing, if in authority they are ranked under each other? God thought of that too. So He designed a dual balancing principle to restore equality through authority.

Here's what He did. Here's that passage you hate. The woman was to be in submission, that awful word, to the man. Her own husband, not somebody else's. What is submission? Submission to yield to the authority of another.

Submission to place one's heart in the attitude of humility to carry out another's desires. Submission to give oneself totally to the success of another when placed under their authority. Submission, the act of giving one's life to another.

That's submission. In Ephesians chapter 5, we read, of course, wives, be submissive and adapt yourselves to your own husbands as the church is subject to Christ. Same progression, same rank, same reason.

Colossians 3 .18, wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. 1 Peter 3 .1, wives, be in subjection to your own husbands. But listen, guys, that's not the gospel concerning marriage.

It's 49 of it. It's not even half. Because women submit. That's what we always hear. It's fun to say it. Women submit. But that's only 49%. The other 51 is men sacrifice. That's what leads women to want to submit.

Husbands' Sacrificial Love and Christ's Example

What does it mean to sacrifice? To voluntarily overlook rank for the purpose of giving up pleasures or rights for the sake of another. To use one's strength to protect, provide, or meet the needs of another at the expense of his own rank or rights.

Where submission is giving one's life to another, sacrifice is the act of giving one's life for another. To give oneself totally to the success of another without regard to rank or position. Sacrifice.

Ephesians 5 .25 says, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. He gave himself away. How did he do it? Why did he do it? You see it in John 13, verses 5 through 14, as he washed the disciples' feet.

He said, now, you've seen me do this. Now, this is your pattern of how the body of Christ is supposed to work. This is my plan. Philippians chapter 2, verse 7. Jesus said, you want to see how it's supposed to work, husbands.

It says, he thought it not robbery to be equal with God. He understood his position. He knew he was an authority, but he made himself what? Nothing. He thought himself of no reputation. He made himself nothing and did what?

Became a slave. He didn't clutch at his rights, one version says. He didn't hold on to his authority. He gave it away by sacrifice. He died instead. Ephesians 5 .28 says, men, love your wives as your own bodies.

The inference is, you'll do anything to save your own hide, your own life. Do everything to save hers. Wives, you are to give your husbands honor, reverence, submission, whether he deserves it or not.

But husbands, you are to give your wife, we are to give our wives our lives, whether she honors, reverences, submits or not. And the reason I say submission is less than 50 is because it is the husband's responsibility to initiate the love because he, we portray God in the relationship.

Here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and we responded to him. It is not an unbroken circle. It has to begin somewhere and the male is responsible for the beginning of it. In 1 Peter 3, we see what a woman's responsibility is if her husband does not fulfill the role.

It is to submit even more. But his responsibility is the greater. He is responsible to God for his life and hers. Satan wants to obliterate authority because with it goes God's portrait of salvation and God's portrait of service.

The church to submit, the Savior to sacrifice. Mutual selflessness and Satan hates that. He wants no order, no rank, no mutual yielding to portray God's love. In closing, the best picture of the whole thing can be seen in God himself.

The Trinity as a Model of Equality, Distinction, and Authority

Here is the best illustration of how the whole principle works. You remember what it was? Equality, design distinct. In equality, in essence equality. In design, distinctive. But in authority, ranked.

You remember? Okay. Here it is, the perfect picture by the Trinity. You see from the diagram, the Father is equal to the Son. The Son is equal to the Spirit. The Spirit is equal to the Father. Total equality as the husband is equal to the wife.

Total equality. That's what the Godhead is. It's a perfect portrait of marriage. In essence, the Godhead is equal. John 1, 2. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The same was in the beginning with God. John 3, 35. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. John 14, 9. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. I and the Father are one. Philippians 2, 6.

He thought it not robbery to be equal with God. They were one. Colossians 2, 9 and 10. For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and we are complete in him, the head of all principality and power.

Matthew 28, 19. He baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Equal. In essence, the same. Total equality. But as much as the Father, the Son, and the Spirit were totally equal, they are not the same.

They are totally distinctive and different in design. As we said earlier, the Father's goal is design. The Son's is judgment. The Spirit's is to administer. The Father's is to design. Mark 13, 32. But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, not the angels in heaven, neither the Son, only the Father.

He's in control. He's the one with the plan. The Son's responsibility is to judge and defend. John 5, 22. For the Father judges no man, but hath committed all judgment, where? To the Son. That men might honor the Son.

Equal. Different. And the Spirit's responsibility to administer. John 14, 26. But the Comforter, whom the Father will send in my name as the Son's representative, he will teach you all things and remind you what I've told you.

Romans 5, 5. The love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts. How? By his agent, the Holy Spirit. Acts 16, 6. Paul was forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach in Asia. The Holy Spirit has a supreme function to administer, to control.

The Father has a supreme function to design, to manage. The Son has a supreme function to judge and defend. They are different, totally different, but totally equal. In essence, the same. In design, different.

But lastly, while being equal but different, they are under authority. John 5, 19. The Son can do nothing. But what he sees the Father do. John 5, 30. I seek not mine own will, but the will of my Father who sent me.

John 7, 16. Jesus answered, my doctrine is not mine, but him who sent me. John 16, 13. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself.

He shall glorify me, Jesus said. He shall receive of mine and show it to you. Father. Son. Spirit. Equal. Different. Under authority. Husband. Wife. Equal. Different. Under authority. Same principle. Same parallel.

Same purpose. And if we see it in that way, why should we resent the difference? And why should we resent the authority? The authority is only to make the most of the difference, to proclaim the equality.

Guidance for Single, Widowed, Divorced, and Separated Women

You see what a liar Satan is? How he tries to confuse the basic issue? What about women without husbands? Those who are single, divorced, widowed, separated. If you are single, widowed, divorced, or separated as a woman, these are six things you can do.

Number one, recognize the power of your direct relationship to God. You are under the only perfect authority that exists. God the Father. Perfect power is yours. Total perfect authority is yours. Number two, find the purpose of your message.

God has a distinctive reason for every married couple, for every family relationship, and he has a distinctive message, a distinctive reason for the present state that each person is in. Find it out. If you find it, you may have found pure gold.

Thirdly, then develop a ministry to relay your message. That's why God gives us a message, so we can have a ministry. Fourthly, if you have to support yourself, and many of you do, vocationally there are things you can do to still harmonize with God's principles.

You can do things that do not magnify an independent spirit. You can do things that do not create masculine characteristics. You can do things that do not bring you into a competitive state. You can do things that develop godlike qualities.

You can do things that magnify your femininity. You can do things that develop your creativity where children and the home are concerned. Number five, develop spiritual qualities becoming to a woman. And number six, expect extra grace from God.

There are many promises in scripture that those who are single or unattached have greater spiritual potential in many areas than those that are married. Paul says you simply have more time. You simply have more, there's simply less things clamoring for your attention.

God's Design Versus Satan's Counterfeit

And the reason I bring this up is that the basic principle does not just have to do with marriage, it has to do with the whole of the male-female relationship. So God has a divine design for man and woman, and Satan cannot stand it.

God's design is E-D-A, equality that magnifies diversity under authority. Authority that balances itself with submission that responds to sacrifice. Satan's counterfeit is E-R-A, equality through rebellion to authority.

Its essence is rebellion to God's ordained plan. Its design is to relegate woman to a man's place in a man's world. When God has placed her on a divine pedestal with gifts, talents, qualities, and values of her own, without which neither society nor the kingdom can function.

You see, as I said earlier, Satan is a liar. He wants equality at the expense of distinctives. He says equality is the absence of authority. He is a liar. But if he can blur the distinctives, abolish the authority, he has society in chaos.

Mothers who are not mothers, fathers who are not fathers, children who are totally confused. If he is not stopped, you will see an increase in homosexuality, in sex change operations, in role swapping.

An increase in the media garbage that portrays these things as natural alternatives, viable lifestyles for a world where men are afraid to be men and women are embarrassed to be women. Because the church of Jesus Christ, the only salt God has left to preserve his standards, is afraid to stand up and stand on the convictions of God's plan for men and women.

Where do we start? With us. Women learn the beauty of submission. Men learn to practice the power of self-sacrifice. So the world can see the beauty and experience the power of the difference. Equality, diversity, under-authority.

Prayer for Faithful Christian Families

So in the world, through men and women seeing the difference, can see God. Father, we thank you that there is a difference. We thank you, Father, that you've given men and women different roles to fulfill, different responsibilities, different positions to play in the body of Christ.

Different gifts, different talents, different sensitivities, different personalities. Perhaps physically stronger men, but emotionally stronger women. Spiritually equal, but with different characteristics and qualities.

Oh God, how beautiful your design is and how wonderfully we're made. And yet, Father, we know that the enemy has a plan to blur those distinctives, to defy that authority in the name of equality. We know, Father, that it's a lie.

We ask, Father, that somehow you give us the grace as Christian families, as Christian men and women, not to be ashamed to be men, not to be embarrassed to be women. But rather to stand up with the beauty of the distinctives you've given us and experience the power that goes with them so that all may glorify.