Lets leave our facades at the door. As women we have all struggled with feelings of insecurity or inadequacy at some point in our lives. At some point we have all felt like we weren’t right, weren’t enough or would never fit in. Society tells us that these feelings are completely normal, that we can never measure up to the airbrushed version of perfection that is fashionable this week, but the fact that we listen to society says that we don’t truly understand our worth. The only credential that we need and ever will need is that we are a masterful work of art made by the most famous artist of all time.
It is so easy to look at any media outlet and try to let the person you see be the one you measure yourself against, but that is not what God has for us. He wants and expects so much more. He created us in his image and said that we were wonderful, therefore it should be easy to feel that way right? But it isn’t, it is one of the most difficult things to do. To accept your own worth and strive to reach the height of your potential can be a scary thing. As I am writing these words I am stepping out in faith to say that someday I will be able to accept my own worth and not find myself to be lacking, but full of bright potential to fulfill my maker’s plan.
I am going to take a look at some biblical examples of the character of a Godly woman, and find my peers here instead of looking to the lies that undermine and undercut our confidence and character.
Eve- Now Eve gets a harsh rap because she sinned the very first sin in a perfect world. But what can we look to her for? What aspect of her character can I cling to? To me the comforting fact is that Eve was redeemed.
Eve was created for Adam. She was made to lighten his load in life and to be his companion. She made his everyday life less lonely and through her womb, she gave birth to the continuation of the human race. She only had one thing that she was told not to do. She was not to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Why? I cannot begin to comprehend the full reason why God didn’t want them to eat of that tree, but I am venturing the guess that since the world was simply made up of good things for them, God didn’t want them to know evil. I chose to see the tree more as a protective measure our Father put in place for his children than an impossible test of human curiosity. Well, Eve fell and ate the fruit, persuading Adam to eat it as well. Her perfect world crumbled and she was banished from the only home she had ever known. She was told birth would be a painful process and that she would never again be able to go back into the perfect garden that had been her reference point in the world. Eve messed up, but even in messing up, could not thwart God’s plan. Eve introduced sin, but through that introduction we get a clear picture of God’s perfect and undeserved grace. Without sin, would we understand the depth of the precious gift that is grace? I don’t think so. Many people look to David as a picture of grace. He fell in committing adultery with Bathsheba, but Eve took the first fall. Eve fell before she had ever seen anyone fall. She is the one who figured out how to get up and get back. In the story of Eve’s fall I get a better picture of Grace and the determination of a woman who had no earthly role model to look too. She accomplished her purpose even after making a mistake. She defined herself by what God saw in her and what her perfect mate, the man she was created for saw in her. That is the aspect of her character I wish to emulate. Letting the right things define me, despite and though my mistakes. If Eve can pick herself up, so can I. I can accomplish my purpose despite my flaws. I can be useful even with my mistakes. So that is what I am praying for you and myself. That we would ask God to forgive our sin, forgive ourselves our sin, pick ourselves up and continue on our path, seeking God’s will and being continually defined and redefined by our master and maker.
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