The Purpose

"What is Your Purpose?" Most of us have heard or learned at some point (at least if you were in church during the "purpose driven life" phenom you should) that our pupose is to Glorify God. Personally I spent many years trying to take this concept and figure out what it looks like from day to day. While the first chapter does not give us the specifics how what this looks like, it does go one layer deeper to tell us what this looks like for Biblical women.

We are privilaged to display the Glory of God through biblical submission. Yes that is for married women the submission of us to our husbands which in John Piper's definition is "the divine calling of a wife to honor and affirm her husband's leadership and help carry it through according to her gifts."
Note: Singleness is also addressed as a different picture of Christ's relationship to us through submission to Christ. I do not go into specific detail about this in this post but if you would like more information on this picture, I will be happy to give it to you.

As my generation has gotten married and had children or are at least preparing to do so, this concept of submission has gotten twisted, turned, and most of us view or viewed submission as a negative. It is something to be squashed, stiffled and surely not relevant to our time. For the world views this to be true, as if submission takes something from you and makes you inferior. We were taught to question authority, be ourselves, help no one, only help yourself, and many watched unhealthy marriages unfold and dissolve right before our eyes. It's no wonder we get married and struggle with submission. All of these are reasons on why we struggle but unfortunatly does not excuse us from the command.

One has to approach submission in light of truth. Truth is how submission looks in every marriage is a little different. There is no "one plan fits all approach". (I have to say that is completely freeing) John Piper's definition says that submission is carried out "according to her gifts". That means that I can't tell you the specifics in HOW to respect and affirm your husband and his leadership in your home. We are commanded to seek God in this and work out what this looks like in our homes to fulfill our "Purpose".

I can however affirm the importance of it and that you are equipped to do so. It will change your life and your home. It does not stiffle, it frees you. We have the power to not only turn the generation in which we live but to train the next generation in true Biblical Womanhood and submission.

I have come to understand that I can not call myself a follower of Christ and claim that I submit to His authority-- but NOT submit to His plan of putting a leader in my home and NOT submit to my husband. The two are directly related and not exclusive of one another. You can't reap the benefits of one and ignore the other. God doesn't do ala carte. It's full course or nothing. It changed my life when I "got this". I still struggle at times and fall. My husband has a lot of patience. I am so grateful for that but even more grateful that so does my King. It's all a process and the important thing is that you remember truth and seek it.

So my closing thought is how are you doing with your purpose? Have you even thought about submission as your purpose? Are you sitting with one foot in God's throne room and the other squashing your husband? Have you determined your gifts and how you are supposed to use them to respect, honor, and affirm your husband's leadership in your home? If you're on the path of Biblical Submission, have you considered gently mentoring and teaching those around you the model?


Kristin Carlton

1st "My Thoughts" installment of the series "The Voices of True Womanhood" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss and friends. This is chapter one. See Biblical Womanhood post to see how this whole posting got started.