Girls have it tough

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It might just be that I’ve got four daughters, but from my vantage point, girls today have it tough. The world they’re growing up in…

  • Portrays a very narrow view of beauty—one that doesn’t represent most women.
  • Gives a numeric way to rate their self-worth: more followers and likes on social media = more value.
  • Tethers self-worth to a man’s (or men’s) attention.
  • Tethers self-worth to some version of “sexy.” (One girl posts a picture of herself wearing a new dress and getting 50 likes, while a classmate posts a provocative selfie in her bikini and gets 250 likes.)
  • Says you can aspire to be anything you want to be, but aspiring to create and sustain a home (to want to be a wife and mother) is aspiring to too little.
  • Says any sexual activity you choose is healthy and good…except abstinence. (Remaining a virgin means something’s wrong with you.)
  • Associates death with “women’s health.”
  • Says porn is normal, so boys are indoctrinated to expect real girls to behave like porn.
  • Dismisses men’s lust, porn, masturbation, and “locker room talk” as harmless at best and manly at worst.
  • Suggests men cannot say no to sexual impulses, and that real men wouldn’t want to.
  • Stresses the value of sexual consent without saying a word about the value of self-mastery and self-giving love.

All this originates from one who means us great harm. According to Jesus, there is a thief who comes to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10). Women are one of his primary targets. This is the same one, after all, who entered uninvited into the Garden to seduce Eve, while Adam stood by.

Is there hope?

There is. Jesus came in the flesh for women.

Jesus didn’t just send women a list of rules to live by. He didn’t send a message of truth to combat the many faulty messages about womanhood. He didn’t send a Get-Well card to comfort women for the abuses they’ve suffered.

No, Jesus came Himself. In the flesh. For His Bride.

Where the first Adam stood by and watched his bride be seduced by another lover (Genesis 3:1-6), the second Adam, Jesus, puts Himself between His Bride and that same seducer.

Though mocked for it, Jesus remained between His Bride and the enemy. Even when she chose the enemy over Him, He remained. Though falsely accused and belittled, He stood His ground. Though betrayed, though stripped naked, though beaten, though torn, though pierced, though killed, He did not move.

For Her. For you, sisters and daughters.

Is there hope? There is. Jesus has come to rescue you, daughters, sisters, wives, mothers, and grandmothers from all that assaults you—all that threatens to make you less than the good, glorious, beautiful, breath-taking, life-giving, unrepeatable, beloved gift He created you to be.

He is a good Bridegroom come to rescue you, His Bride.

Question: Do you agree that girls today have it tough? Why or why not? Leave a comment below.

If you are a young woman between the ages of 18 – 25 and interested in drawing nearer to Jesus for healing, you’re invited to One:One, tomorrow night, Thursday, October 27 from 6:45 to 9PM in Towson, MD. Click here for more information or to register.

Thanks For Reading.

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3 comments

Leave a Reply to Robert Cancel reply

  • Thank you for your ministry to women! I will be bringing a group of 8-10 young adult women tomorrow night and have been praying for weeks for healing and impact to happen! God bless you!

  • Good stuff, Josh. I’m grieved at the lack of a response by many evangelical leaders to many / most of the issues you’ve listed above. Whether it’s sexual abuse that is swept under the rug, or men that make excuses for other men’s behavior, it’s clear that the church has failed miserably in the role of protector. But from time to time, I catch glimpses of men who are advocating for true masculinity, which is a necessary part of true femininity being able to blossom. Thanks for being a part of the solution, and equipping the church to help both men and women flourish in the desert.

By Josh Glaser

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