Becoming an Extraordinary Woman

The 'extraordinary' women in the Bible "aren't memorable solely because of their physical beauty, their natural abilities, their personal accomplishments, or some position they attained. Not one of them distinguished herself through a great career, some worldly accomplishment, or anything that would even stand out in the eyes of a cultural observer. All of them were basically modest, in every sense of the word - as 'is proper for women professing godliness' (I Tim 2:10)".
John MacArthur, Twelve Extraordinary Women

Recently I read the book Twelve Extraordinary Women by John MacArthur. MacArthur went through scripture and discussed Eve, Sarah, Rahab, Ruth, Hannah, Mary (mother of Jesus), Anna, the Samaritan woman, Martha and Mary, Mary Magdalene, and Lydia. It opened my eyes to what Biblical Womanhood looks like. "If these twelve women teach us anything, it is to center our lives, our faith, and our perspective of the future on Christ and Christ alone." Being a woman I think about marriage, admit it...you do to. MacArthur gave some great truth about these women. "Did you notice that not one of our twelve extraordinary women is noteworthy exclusively because of whom she was married to? These women did not derive their identities or their reputations solely from their husbands." Most of the women he covered in his book were not even married at the time of their extraordinary faith. Eve and Sarah were the only two who were married at the point of the story in which we encountered them. All of the rest were either single, widowed, betrothed, or in the case of the Samaritan woman, living with a man whom she was not married to.

These women were normal women. They had daily tasks and lives they led. They were all sinful, just as we are. The neat thing is, we can be considered extraordinary to God just like these women. Each of them were known for the faith they had in God. As I read through scripture I see that I am not supposed to be worldly or covet worldly things. It is hard sometimes to see what I am supposed to be like when everything around me screams "covet me", "dress like me", "lose 25 lbs like me", "drive a brand new car like me", "date guys that look like movie stars", ... It is so hard to ignore the things of the world when we are constantly surrounded by it. Yet, Lydia who was wealthy was considered to be extraordinary for her faith in Christ. She didn't care about the money or about any of those things. She cared about making Christ's name known in the world around her. Her whole household (it was unknown if she was married or not so this could have been servants and such) came to know Christ. They were all baptized with her in the river. She had struggles too, just like we do. We may not have been told of them, but she was human so we know she had issues too. Lydia's story alone holds so much that you would have to read what I could write about her in parts.

These women were women of faith. They were also women of love. They each loved God and recognized Him as the Almighty, Eternal God of Heaven. From looking at these women's lives it is obvious that women who are being raised up in Him are to be like they are. Now, do not think I am saying in order to be a Christian it is a requirement to do these things. We know that in coming to know Jeuse Christ we will be transformed and made more like Him. Thus our desires will change. We will desire to have faith in Him and we will desire to love Him above all else. These women very obviously displayed that. They desired to put Christ before everything else in their lives. This was not something they were forced to do to retain a religious status. They genuinely loved Christ and expressed it outwardly to others by displaying faith, love, hope, ... (Galatians 5:25).

These women did not consider themselves extraordinary. For the most part they considered others greater than themselves (you should check out their stories in scripture). So from their lives I have concluded, being an extraordinary women requires a genuine love for God and submitting your whole life to Him. He loved you enough to die for you, so what makes you think He loves you any less now then He did then?