Wife and Mother // Building a Godly Family, Part 8

We think of men being the stronger sex and the Bible even talks about women as being the weaker sex. But some of the strongest people I know are women – and you women, your particular brand of strength can be such an amazing blessing to your families.

You know, so often we look at men and there's something about their physical size and brute strength, their ability to go out and crash through problems. It's easy to make the mistake and think that it's the man who's the strongest force in marriage and in a family. Well maybe that's true. But you know something, there's another 'tour de force' in the home. It may not be quite as obvious but it's there. And it's to be found in the wife and the mother.

So many of the women I know, and I'm sure you're the same, they work so tirelessly to bring up children and to nurture them, to keep the family together. And it's their strength that's so easily missed. The fact that it is missed, that women so often, are undervalued in the family I think is one of the reasons that so many women decide to call it quits and pull up stakes from their marriages in their middle years.

The reality is that most divorces are initiated these days by women rather than men because there's a sense that they lose their own identities in their families. They feel under-valued and misunderstood and eventually something has to give. It's sad but true.

I want to have a chat today about turning this negative into a positive; about valuing the role of the wife and the mother in a way that brings great blessing to our families because wives/mothers, you have an amazing role to play in building a Godly family.

Yesterday we talked about the man – he husband, the father. What an incredible asset his strength is in building a godly family and bringing about peace in the home. Today it's time to talk about the wife, the mother and the incredible asset she can be to being the glue that binds the family into a working unit; the one who makes the home a nurturing environment.

In a sense the natural call of a man is to go out and bring money and food into the home. And the natural call of the woman is to use that to provide the home; to make the home a home.

Now it's not quite as neatly polarised as that anymore these days. Wives and mothers also go out to work in many cultures. But in terms of the call on our hearts, it is very true that the man’s focus is on the hunting and gathering thing, if you like, and the woman’s focus is on building the home.

The problem is and this is what I was alluding to at the beginning of the program that so often the woman feels used and abused. And on top of that, these days in many places and cultures, as I said, she's expected to go out and earn an income as well. Little wonder she feels used and abused.

I mean, in Australia many women work but they also do the lion’s share of the housework rather than their men. As though that's any surprise to us.

So often the Christian or the Biblical view of male/female relationships can seem kind of old fashioned. We are, after all, living in the 21st century, are we not? How can we be talking about wives obeying their husbands and women being the weaker sex? What an outdated view of things!

And yet, you know, the more I delve into what the Bible has to say about men and women – male/female relationships; husbands and wives – the more I realise that, whilst maybe we wouldn't use quite the same language if we were writing it today, what God has to say about families and husbands and wives – when you dig beneath the language that offends our 21st century sensibilities and go to the heart of what's being said – it's as true today as it was way back when it was written.

Have a listen to this. It comes from the New Testament, 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 7:

Husbands, in the same way show consideration for your wives in your life together. Paying honour to the woman as the weaker sex since they too are also heirs to the gracious gift of life, so that nothing may hinder your prayers.

The "weaker sex" thing makes me smile. Women after all are the ones who have the babies. And the very thought of having a baby is enough to send me into a cold sweat. I mean I go weak at the knees at the thought of what it must be like for a woman to give birth. And then the Bible calls them the weaker sex. Isn't it a bit chauvinistic do you think? Hmm, well actually what the original Greek language that sits behind our English translation says is that they are the "weaker vessel".

This is how I picture it. You know those great big metal aluminium cans that they have when they milk cows. Have you ever seen them on television? Or maybe you live in a rural setting. That's what the man’s like, this big, strong, knockabout strength, kind of robustness about him. And on the other side, you have a beautiful, exqu