Honorable Equality

We hear a lot about equity and equality these days. But perfection in these two areas is not possible, for various reasons.

First of all, physical differences create male/female identity. People also differ in their thought processes and emotional makeup.

Another difference appears in gifts and abilities. For example, we have statesmen, nurses, doctors, entrepreneurs, and skilled laborers. They can be either male or female. But while education and training vary from one skill to another, no one person is more important than another.

Consider this question:  Can two people walk hand in hand if they aren’t going to the same place? (The MSG, Amos 3:3). Whether you are a couple or a business or sports team, there must be agreement on goals.

A good leader listens to others, considers what to do, and then shares his plan. With people in agreement, each does his best to help the plan succeed.   

There is also more to walking in agreement? While using our gifts to help one another, we are also to love and honor each other (Romans 12:6-8, and 10).

Every team needs a leader. In marriage, the husband is to be head of the wife, but he is not to be a tyrant. He is to love his wife as Christ loved the church and was willing to give His life for her (Ephesians 5:23-28).

My husband and I worked through a rough patch after I stopped telling him what I thought and he stopped asking. We were looking for housing in a new ministry when I started to cry. He asked, “What’s wrong?”

I said, “The Lord gave me a warning to share with you but I didn’t do it because I thought you wouldn’t listen anyway.” He was shocked, and said, “Well, share it with me now,” so I did.

He said, “Promise me you will always tell me what you think, and I promise to listen before I make a decision.”

It was a fresh start. This honoring of one another became mutual submission out of reverence for Christ (Ephesians 5:21). That set us on a renewed path for a happy marriage of fifty-two years. Praise the Lord!

Let’s aim for honorable equality, doing it as unto the Lord, not just unto man (Colossians 3:23-24).

  

Perfectly New

Isn’t it fun to get something new? You open a package knowing the item has never been used and you get to enjoy it.

I find it interesting that God built the idea of “new” into His Creation. Each day begins with a new sunrise. Every seven days we start a new week, basically every thirty days a new month, and every twelve months a new year!

Cartoonists like to draw "Father Time." At the beginning of the year, he is pictured as a baby. But by the end of the year, he’s gray-bearded, old and scraggly. Perhaps people feel that way, too, as they make new-year resolutions to improve life.

You’ve probably heard life is what happens while you’re making other plans. Plans are good, but life is full of surprises. All we can control is how we will respond to unexpected challenges.

Read the heading on my blog and you’ll see I believe in “new.” To me, it’s a gift that Almighty God offers in many ways.

First, is the gift of salvation: Forgiveness of sins and eternity with God by accepting His gift of Jesus, who died on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for sin. We are born again (spiritually this time), and no more animal sacrifices are required (John 3:16; 2 Corinthians 5:17). We have a fresh start.

Then we are to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18). How? By going to church and reading our Bibles with a heart to obey God’s Word.

One day this old world will be replaced. God will create a new heaven and a new earth (2 Peter 3:10-13). But, to me, there’s even a better “new!” Here’s a scripture I live by:

Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed,

For His mercies never fail. They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness! (Lamentations 3:22-23 BSB)

Read a little further, and you’ll find that in God we have hope, and He is good to those who seek Him.

With that in mind, I'd say we have good reasons to enjoy a perfectly NEW year!