Well, several weeks ago I posted a rather long entry about the Biblical definition of manhood. It’s been a challenging process since that time, while I have been seeking to grow and learn about how to be a man of God. I can’t say that the journey has been easy, but it certainly has been liberating to see my confidence in God grow as I continue to reject passivity, accept responsibility, lead courageously, and expect God’s greater reward.

Today at Men’s Fraternity, we looked at how men relate to their daughters. This is an interesting subject, since many of us younger men are still unattached and will be looking to date (and eventually marry) some other man’s daughter in the future. It’s also interesting to see the perspective of what we can start preparing to do should God give us daughters.

Part of what we looked at was a clear definition of Biblical womanhood. We didn’t get to go into detail like we did with Biblical manhood, but we discussed the main points. Real womanhood is also broken into four areas: Rejecting worldly temptations for significance, believing in God’s priorities, nurturing the next generation, and expects God’s greater reward.

Rejecting worldly temptations for significance is mostly talking about the temptation that “there is something better out there.” Since the Fall, women have sought to find significance in things and people outside of the roles God has given them. In modern society, there is a ton of pressure on women to get out of the home and into the workplace, to pursue a career and draw their significance upon their jobs rather than the “traditional” family and relationships. Now the idea of staying at home with the children has lost the little appreciation it had, and women who choose to do that aren’t respected by the world. Listening to all of this reminded me of the movie, The Incredibles. In the special features of the DVD (now available at a store near you), an alternative opening scene was discussed in which the mother (a superheroine) was talking with a career woman about raising a family. The career woman was very condescending, and the mother was getting very angry. This was especially touchy because she voluntarily chose to give up the excitement of using her powers to fight evil in order to stay at home to raise her children. So in a roundabout way, I guess I’m saying that a real woman rejects the world’s attempts to get her to choose a source of significance outside of what God has designed for her.

Believing in God’s priorities goes along with that – Godly women embrace the values of God. Titus 2:5 was mentioned, and the idea of older women teaching the younger women to be sensible was emphasized. Women are incredibly capable. I dare say all of the women I know have been gifted to do many things in ways I will never be able to match. As it was stressed to us, the idea that “you can’t do everything” and sensibility is not supposed to limit or demean anyone. It’s just recognizing the finite amount of time we have in this life and choosing the most important things to pursue. So real women learn and desire to have God’s priorities in their life.

Nurturing the next generation is pretty self-explanatory. God created women to have an instinctive sense to nurture. This role is vital to the edification and encouragement of the body of Christ. Women are just simply better at recognizing the spiritual and emotional needs of people and finding creative and considerate ways to meet those needs. There are several ladies that I immediately think about when this is brought to my attention. This nurture not only includes caring for and raising children of their own, but also the idea of discipleship/mentorship. Being a woman who is passing on the wisdom of God to younger women is super cool, and I dare say, quite attractive.

Finally, expecting God’s greater reward. This is something that definitely needs to be common to both men and women. After all, we all must walk by faith and earnestly seek God’s purposes. I was reading Psalm 104 this morning, and verses 27 and 28 really spoke to me. The previous 26 verses are telling of God’s amazing and vast creation and His greatness in making all of creation and setting things into motion. Then, the psalmist writes, “These all [all of creation] look to You to give them their food at the proper time. When You give it to them, they gather it up; when You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good things.” God’s sovereignty is unquestioned. However, I still find myself unwilling to joyfully receive the good things He gives me. Receiving what God gives is just as important to worship as giving Him all the due praise and honor – and in a real sense, we cannot give Him sincere praise without joyfully receiving the best He gives to us. So I hope you are all challenged to be expecting God’s greater reward for your faith.

Since I am not a woman, I am just spitting out the things we covered in a mens-only workshop, and not really speaking from my personal experience. Are we completely off-base with this definition? Does any of it make sense? Comments and thoughts are most desired. We men are usually stumbling around in the dark with these matters, but if we desire God’s things, we want to honor and encourage women to be a real woman after His heart. So any insight you all might bring to this would be an awesome encouragement and/or challenge to us as we consider how to raise daughters and how to relate to women.