The Beauty of Submission, Part 3

It's interesting ... I just finished the last two chapters of Feminine Appeal last night and guess what one of those chapters was called? The Beauty of Submission ... how appropriate! I promise I didn't read ahead or catch a sneak peek before I started this submission series.

I haven't had the chance to dive into Genesis like I had mentioned last week, but with the bit of study that I ventured into last week, I believe that Mahaney's wisdom ties up many of the loose ends for me that I was unsure about in 1 Peter 3:6, where we see that Peter uses Sarah as the example for us to follow:

5 For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, 6 like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.

As we look at Sarah's life in Genesis, we see that even though she acted in obedience to her husband, Abraham, and accompanied him on a long journey from their home in Ur to unknown places, where she did indeed trust God to lead Abraham, she still failed many crucial times.

1. Not standing up for truth when Abraham asked her to "act" like his sister, not his wife, so that Pharaoh would spare his life and give him wealth
   
   
2. Recommending and having Abraham marry Hagar so that he could have a child with her to be his heir ... failing to believe God's promise to her and Abraham ... ultimately causing bitterness between she and Hagar and introducing violent hostility between two peoples, Ishmael and Isaac, that has evolved into the Arab-Israel conflict today
   

But despite this sin (and maybe her 'good' intentions at times), God's faithfulness was greater. God still chose to bless Abraham and Sarah, and we see this as he gives them new names, a great covenant that they will be the father and mother of great nations in Genesis 17, and that Sarah will bear their child, Isaac, at 91 years old.

And the beauty of Peter's example here is that he does use Sarah, a woman who has screwed up, but even in the midst of her sin and after pursuing forgiveness, continues to put her trust in God, over her husband to do what's best for her. Mahaney says this:

Sarah's story doesn't end in failure. By the time she gave birth to Isaac -- a full fifteen years later -- God had performed a momentous work of grace in her life. Her lack of trust in God matured into a robust faith. In fact, she is one of only two women listed among the Hebrews 11 'heroes of faith.'

This God who transformed Sarah's disbelieving heart can do the same for us. If we embrace his plan for our lives and purpose to obey His commands, He will develop in us the beauty of submission. He will enable us to trust Him to lead our husbands to lead us.

How beautiful is that! That even at 91+ years of age, God still chose to use Sarah and to change her for His glory. So much for the saying, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks." Sarah was definitely an old dog (no derogatory meaning implied)! And I think the encouraging thing for us here is that regardless if we've been married for a year, 10 years or 50 years, we ALL still need God's grace to submit well. Hopefully at the 50 year mark (and before) our hearts will be more soft and our attitudes will be more gentle to submit well, but we're all in need of the same grace and it's only through that grace and submission to the Lord that submission to our husbands will ever be beautiful. And it's also through that grace and reliance on the Lord that we can stand firm and "not give way to fear" as we continue down this journey.

Stay tuned ... I think I'll take one more post to wrap up this submission series, but in the mean time, here's what looks to be a great resource on Sarah and Abraham if you're interested in diving in deeper: http://bible.org/seriespage/yes-my-lord%E2%80%94-ithe-story-abraham-and-sarahi.

Tis the Time for Self-Control

I'm amazed ... yet again! It seems just as I begin studying something, God decides to show me that concept over and over again in several different ways. Today's concept is self-control. Well, I first stumbled upon it in Atlanta as I was reading chapter 4 in Feminine Appeal, The Safety of Self-Control, where Mahaney unpacks the truths of Titus 2:3-5:

3 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4 Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

(The whole book focuses on these 3 verses, but this chapter specifically discusses self-control.)

When I typically think of self-control, I think of my actions and my speech, but rarely before now have I thought of my thoughts and emotions as areas where I need to have self-control. I commented about this in relation to Anna's post on Monday. Now, as this concept is beginning to settle and take root in my mind, I continue to stumble across it:

• Metro Mom's Blog: Feelings ... Woe ... Woe ... Woe
• Radical Womanhood: Make Every Effort to be Self-Controlled and Steadfast
  

I'm guessing this is a concept that God really wants me to learn. Here are some key points that stood out about it in Feminine Appeal:

Mahaney says, "What we allow to govern our feelings and occupy our thinking will sooner or later determine our behavior. Sinful thoughts and sinful feelings lead to sinful behavior. Therefore, we dare not ignore these faculties, but must exercise self-control in them.

This is why we must heed 2 Corinthians 10:5 where Paul commands us to, "take every thought captive to obey Christ."

Mahaney also says, "We must understand that our feelings are not authoritative. Just because we feel something doesn't make it true. Our feelings are either ruled by truth or ruled by sin. Therefore, we need to discover what is ruling our feelings to determine if they are accurate or inaccurate -- righteous or sinful."

As women, I believe that this is an area where we struggle a lot. For most of us, we're very emotional beings and we can easily allow Satan to use our thoughts, feelings and emotions as a foothold to convince ourselves of things contrary to God. Darn it, estrogen! I believe this is why the idea of self-control is included in Titus 2:5 and as one of the fruits of the Spirit in Galations 5:23.These are the truths we need to cling to and realize in our lives so that sin won't take hold of us in this area.

A Good Read: Feminine Appeal

I'm out of town this week visiting family in Atlanta and while I'm here, I have the wonderful chance to indulge in some good reading. My book for this week is Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney. I think I mentioned that I would like to read this book in an earlier post, but now that I'm reading it, I absolutely love it. Carolyn is right on as she unpacks the truths of Titus 2. So, if you have some time in the next few weeks and are looking for a good read, pick up Feminine Appeal and share your thoughts. When I get back into town, I'll share more of my thoughts about the truths I'm learning here, but until then, enjoy a good read!

Carolyn and her daughters are the authors of girltalk, a blog that I link from Mark of Beauty, so if you're looking for some additional wisdom, check out their blog as well.

M.B.A. in Mrs. & Motherhood?

As I build this blog, I am fervently searching for good, solid resources to study and recommend and in doing so this morning, I came across the book Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney and Nancy Leigh DeMoss. In reading the preface in the 'look inside' feature on Amazon, I came across a very intriguing thought that relates to the article on women in Time that I mentioned from DeMoss' preface to Biblical Womanhood in the Home last week. Here's what it says:

Isn't it telling that our culture requires training and certification for many vocations of lesser importance [to homemaking, motherhood, 'wifehood'], but hands us marriage and motherhood without instruction? Fortunately, God hasn't left us to fend for ourselves. He has provided invaluable lessons for women in His Word.

Mahaney goes on to highlight the instruction God gives us as women in Titus 2:3-5:

3 ... Teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4 Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

Interestingly enough, we can earn degree after degree after degree (not that that's a bad thing ... we can certainly acquire much wisdom there), but the very knowledge that we need to be the women God desires us to be is right in scripture and within the example of the older women around us. Feminine Appeal definitely looks like a good resource to go hand in hand with the study of Titus 2 and learn more about the role of a godly woman. I'm definitely adding this one to my reading list.

Here's a good review of the book.