‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked I will depart’. Job 1:21
We all begin life the same and we all die returning to dust the same. No gender, race, status, nationality or creed dissolves this absolute that we are all equal at the beginning and at the end.
In the beginning, as now, humanity wanted to be as God and so through disobedience sin entered the world along with greedy power and the domination of fellow human beings.
If you read last month’s Baptist Care News and Together in Mission you would have been reminded of the atrocities this world has and still is experiencing.
But the good news is that Jesus Christ came to save and reconcile us to the Father and restore us as His sisters and brothers.
‘There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus’. Galatians 3:28
In early March two and a half thousand women gathered for breakfast at the Adelaide Convention Centre to celebrate International Women’s Day. I attended a three day women’s conference at Sydney Entertainment Centre celebrating Jesus with 17,000 sisters in Christ. Yes that’s right; seventeen thousand women over two conferences back to back. God created humanity – male and female – in his own image. Women are celebrating their womanhood. We are in the first chapter of the bible being distinguished from animals and from males. If males and females work together in tandem maybe we might catch a glimpse of God as we both carry his image.
Our challenge is to throw off any oppression and low self esteem by knowing who we are in Christ Jesus. What you say, what you accept or don’t accept, your attitudes, beliefs and actions all speak to younger women and girls about their value. Many men and women have paved the way for us to enjoy liberty in our political, social and spiritual lives and now we need to keep progressing for the sake of future generations. We are privileged to be women in a first world country. With great privilege comes great responsibility—responsibility for men and women to join their strengths for the benefit of one another rather than wielding their power against one another.
Many women and girls around the world don’t have a voice and need us to advocate for them. Will you be part of the solution?
You have a beginning and an end. You write the story in the middle, hand in hand with God.