Weekend Devotion: God Created Women in His Image to Be a Source of Strength & Power Where Men Are Weak. Her Divine Design Was Not Maid, Slave, Blindly Obeying Man’s Desire, Nor Lust. Ezer Kenegdo is Poorly Translated As Helper.

This weekend speaking on ending modern day slavery. 80% of the exploited are women; 50% under the age of 16. Part of the issue is women are viewed as objects to serve the pleasure whims of men, instead of people to be loved.

Eve was NOT created to be Adam’s play toy or slave. Ezer Kegnedo which is poorly translated into English as helper, means an equal but opposite complement that is strong, provides power, where the other is weak.

God did not tell Eve, “It is your job to please this man and serve him. Be sure to obey him and follow him.” He told both Adam and Eve both to have dominion on earth (see Genesis 1). Both were created in the image of God.

The fall of mankind produces a fracture in the male female relationship. God did NOT say, “I want your husband to Lord over you.” He said, “Because of your choice (eating the fruit), your desire is going to be to please your husband (be a people pleaser essentially), and because of your choice he will seek to lord over you.” It was NEVER God’s design for men to dominate women nor treat them like sex objects or slaves or servants.

Jesus stated the greatest among you will be your servant, when the disciples were fighting over who would be the greatest (Matthew 23:11). The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve (Matthew 20:28).

God created relationships to flow from love! Love does not seek someone to meet it’s selfish whims. Love seeks to serve. Paul told husbands to love their wives the way Christ loves the church. Love comes to give, serve, invest, empower, help, celebrate….love is NOT a consumer that uses people like Kleenex. What is so radical about Ephesians is people ignore Ephesians 5:21 which says “Submit (be willing to yield to what honors God) to one another out of reverence for God,” and “Husbands love your wives the way Christ loves loves the church (Ephesians 5:25).

The focus is wives submit to your husbands which in study I found is not in the orginal text as written. Wives submit was added based on what translators felt would fit. It was submit to one another, likewise for wives. Wives were already forced into submission in the culture.

Paul emphasized husbands treating their wives the way Jesus loves the church. Jesus makes the church a coheir, serves the church, prepares a place for her, adds value, treats her as a part of Him, nourishes the church, takes care of the church. This was RADICAL because men in the culture treated their wives like property and walking reproductive organs. The guidance of Paul for men was radical. Women were not treated as coheirs the way Jesus treats the church. Yet thousands of years later you still see hyper focus on women be submissive and little on men submitting (Ephesians 5:21) and loving the way Jesus loves (Ephesians 5:25, John 13:34-35, 1 John 4:8). Paul said without love we are just making noise and we are nothing (1 Corinthians 13).

I truly believe one of the ways we can end some of the horrible crimes against women is to stop teaching that women are just supposed to submit to the desires of men. Women are not children created to aimlessly follow men. Eve was created because it was not good for Adam to be alone. Adam had a need. Adam had a problem. God provided someone who was created to be a source of power and strength where he was weak. They were to complement each other.

God even refers to Himself as an Ezer to mankind. He provides strength where we are weak.

When women are viewed as people not walking reproductive organs created for man’s pleasure, I think things will radically shift.

When lust is addressed as anti God and sin, and we help people get delivered, I think things will radically shift.

When love enters the hearts of people, and people are seen as someone to love not an object to use-things will shift.

When the adult film industry loses clients (it fuels human trafficking), things will shift.

When young girls are taught they are not pleasure pods created to please men, but created to be loved as a person not a service-things will shift.

When “boys will be boys” is removed from our vocabulary as excuses for poor behavior, things will shift.

When we address the things God spoke about relationships instead of hyper focusing on women submit, things will change. God created women to be a source of strength and that had nothing to do with her ability to please him physically.

Women were created different from men on purpose! Women have the ability to use both sides of their brains in ways men tend to be single focused/minded. Each gender is gifted and adds value to the other. The brain of a woman in complex and different. It is not inferior.

My prayer is we (culture) get to know the heart and love of God. Love fulfills the law because love does no harm to it’s neighbor (Romans 13:10)! Love does not sell people or use them for their body or forced labor. Love does not treat people like servants. Jesus said, “I no longer call you servants; I call you friends (John 15:15).”

Love comes to serve. Love is pure. Love comes to honor God.

Having the desire for physical intimacy is not sin; desiring to use people, get those needs met outside God’s design, seeking to be pleased instead of love…that is selfish and sinful.

People were created by love (God), to be loved, then to love. Without love, it’s not God. God is love (1 John 4:8). Those who do not love, do not know God.

Lust is not love. It is selfish and greedy. It comes to be served, not serve. It comes to consume, not give. It comes with demands, not a heart to honor. Jesus came and took the lowest place. He did not boss the disciples around, “Serve Me peasants. I am the King. I am the Lord over you.” Nope. He washed feet. He gave the disciples an invitation into relationship and led them by love. Leader=servant of others in the eyes of God. The leader is the one who sacrificially loves. Jesus laid His life down for the church. Jesus did not boss people around. He loved them.

May we see people the way God does. Women were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). I won’t even touch on how 50% of the victims of human trafficking are under 16 years old. Some are as young as 3 or 4 years old. Children are being sold for forced labor or illicit sexual acts. It is beyond disturbing. Men were not created for lust. Men were created to love like God. Love does NOT harm children.

Here are some organizations you can support who are addressing human trafficking.

International Justice Mission (ijm.org)

Extreme Love (extremelove.com)

A21 (A21.org)

And there are so many more!

I will be speaking this Sunday at 10:30am on Ending Modern Day Slavery.

You may watch the live stream from Vineyard Christian Church Live Stream.

May you and I be the change we wish to see in the world!

Love,

Erin Lamb

https://www.empowered-free.com

Facebook.com/erinlambauthor