On Women

Recently, I started reading Seven Men and the Secret of Their Greatness by Eric Metaxas. For those of you unfamiliar with this author, he wrote biographies on both Dietrich Bonhoeffer and William Wilberforce. In the introduction to his latest book, Metaxas brings up the ideas of what culture today says about manhood. He writes that "we live in a culture where strength is feared and where there is a sense that--to protect the weak--strength itself must be weakened....It leads to a world of men who aren't really men. Instead they are just two kinds of boys: boasting, loud-mouthed bullies or soft, emasculated pseudo-men" (xx). Metaxas points out that manhood as God designed it is the selfless use of men's greatest gift from God, their strength, to protect those who are weaker. I agree whole-heartedly with this statement and think a great many of societies evils could be cured if men chose to use their strength in this way.

Reading this introduction, however, led me to wonder what God's greatest gift to women might be. I would like to set forward women's ability to use words, especially speech, as one of the main talents God has provided the fairer sex. And, just as men's talent has been perverted by culture, I think women's talent has been tainted as well. 

Allow me to explain. We are repeatedly told in the New Testament to use our words to encourage each other to good works, to build each other up and to show respect to the men in our lives--most especially husbands. But I see women all the time who use their words to purposefully disintegrate relationships, whether those are relationships with other women or men. Rather than using their talent for words, especially spoken words, to help, they are used as swift stabbing weapons, and whoever can think faster is the "winner" of the verbal warfare. As everyone knows, the old adage about sticks and stones could not be more untrue. Words can leave wounds that gape and fester for years, even a whole lifetime, after the actual injury is done. I could go on and on in this subject, talking about the prevalence of gossip and spreading of malicious rumors that seem to be the topic of so many television shows geared toward a teenage female audience, which I find horrifying and sad for so many reasons, but my main point is simply this: women have a God-given talent. Just as men should use their strength to protect the weak even to the point of self-sacrifice, women should use their talent to honor and encourage and bring life back into relationships. These talents are two complimentary sides of a coin. The loss of one leads to the downfall of the other. So let me encourage you women out there to use what you have been given for good. Write a note. Send an email or text or telegram if you have to. Tell someone you love them. Tell them they are important and special and that you are glad to have them in your life. Tell them you respect them...and then, act on what you say.


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Metaxas, Eric. Seven Men and the Secret of Their Greatness. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2013.