A Call to Discipleship - Woman to Woman

It's no secret that one of the things that preoccupies my life is contemplating the differences between men and women, and the roles that they occupy.  I believe that when we were created "in His image" as "male and female" each gender was given a specific role, a specific way to tell the world who God is.

I recently had a very dear friend, one of my fab five, comparing her way of ministry to her husband's way of ministry, and somehow feeling like she was coming up short.  I know how she feels.  When I'm doing ministry, I don't want my results to look different from any man's.  And I'm not even comparing myself to someone so specific.  She was concerned that her view on what a disciple-maker is was somehow flawed, even though she feels very convinced of the way she cares for other women.

So I've been poking around.  :)

Interestingly, I'm preparing to pitch an idea for a women's mentoring program at my local church.  And in contemplating the pitch, God instructed me to throw what I considered a curve ball.

My vision for teaching about women's call to discipleship came from Matthew 25:31-46.

read it here (before going on)

Okay, let's get the stuff we're not gonna be dealing directly with out of the way.

Sheep = Believers
Goats = Pretenders

Son of Man = Jesus Christ

Good.  Got that done.  Now in giving the passage a cursory glance, we see that the difference between those separated as "sheep" and those separated as "goats" is not that one produces wool and one produces delicious cheeses.  That would be weird.  The difference is the amount of care provided to others.  Sheep feed the hungry.  Sheep clothe the naked.  Sheep shelter the wanderers.  Goats do not do all of these things.

Now let's dig a little deeper.  I hope that if you are reading this, you consider yourself a sheep.  I hope you think you'd feed, clothe, and shelter the less fortunate in the name of Christ, but yesterday, I delved into a whole new realm of meaning. 
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What kind of hunger are we talking about?  What kind of nakedness?  What kind of wandering?

According to Maslow's heirarchy of needs, one needs to have the physical needs taken care of.  But after those are taken care of, a whole new realm of needs opens up for those enlightened individuals who can discover them.

Spiritual needs.

Every individual on earth is struggles with spiritual hunger, spiritual nakedness, and spiritual wandering.  These needs will always be there, slowly tugging us toward something to fill those needs.  That's where a woman's role in discipleship comes in.

Feed the spiritually hungry.
Clothe the spiritually naked.
Shelter the spiritually wandering.

Interestingly, the Good Wife in Proverbs 31 is shown doing, primarily, actions to address hunger, nakedness, and wandering.

verses 15-16 see her rising early and working hard to provide for her family and her servants
verses 21-22 talk specifically about the clothing she makes
verse 20 sees her providing for wanderers, reaching out her hands to those who need her help.

But she also is shown to do these things on an abstract level.  She "dresses herself" with strength and dignity, she opens her mouth with wisdom and kindness (feeding others).

So this is the role of a woman.  And in Titus 2:3-5 Paul instructs Titus to have the older women teach the younger women these things.  And in teaching the younger women these things, the older women are spiritually feeding, clothing, and sheltering the younger women; they are teaching them to do the same.

This is what a Woman's Way of Discipleship looks like.  Our primary objective should be to feed, clothe, and shelter.  To take care of others.  Men in the bible are consistently giving each other charges, battle plans, and sending each other out.  Women are hanging back, providing the much-needed home defense as the men go out on the offense.  Sure, there are times when roles overlap (like in the case of Deborah in the book of Judges).  But a woman's primary function is to nurture, to care, and to teach.  That's how God made us.  We are not so much the banner careers, or the front line fighters.  We hold down the fort.  Without us it would fall.  And when we do our job, we rock at it.

So this begs the question: Women, are you feeding, clothing, and sheltering?  Are you doing your job?  Or are you leaving the back door open while expecting the men to meeting the battle head-on?