According to Bible study author, speaker and blogger Michelle Lesley, women respond differently to false teachers than men do. Take for example the Genesis account of the Garden of Eden. It was Eve who succumbed to the wiles of the crafty serpent, not Adam. Michelle has some interesting thoughts on why the serpent chose to approach the woman instead of the man. She points out that God made men and women with very different mental and emotional makeups — women are more trusting, loving and willing to give the benefit of the doubt to others. Thus, women are more likely than men to be drawn in by wolves in sheep’s clothing. Food for thought, ladies.
Now to Michelle’s article:
Confession time: Sometimes – OK, often – I think my brain works more like a man’s than a woman’s. You’ve got a problem? Suck it up- here’s the solution. The mall? A perfectly horrifying way to ruin a Saturday. And why do we have to hug people hello and goodbye when we see each other multiple times a week?
I’ve always been more comfortable around men, and when I was single, I had mostly male friends. They’re generally¹ less mysterious and easier to figure out than women, and they don’t usually play those manipulative emotional games some women can be notorious for. If a man says he wants a cheese sandwich, there’s no hidden “you don’t bring me flowers often enough” meaning there. He just wants a cheese sandwich. I like that. It’s pretty much how I operate.
Which makes me the perfect person for God to plunk down smack dab in the middle of women’s ministry, right?
Harrumph.
God just has this way about Him of stretching us and growing us beyond our comfortable little confines. I used to be terrified of walking into a room full of women (They’re so unpredictable! You never know when a big emotional scene might break out!) But after years of teaching and discipling women, developing close friendships with women, serving and ministering to women, I now walk into that room and see precious sisters, created oh so tenderly and intricately by God’s loving hands.
God purposefully and intentionally made each woman unique, but with common traits and perspectives that bind us together as sisters and differentiate us from men. And because men aren’t wired by God the same way women are, sometimes they’re just not going to get the way women think about things, approach people, or respond to issues. Sometimes (shopping, flowers, hugginess) that’s no big deal. They can shrug their shoulders, extend grace, and make space for the women in their lives to think, feel, and react differently than men would without really taking the time to understand why.
But there’s at least one biblical issue women respond to differently at the core level of their spiritual DNA than men do. And men, it’s crucial that you get it on this one. You’re the pastors. The elders. The husbands. The fathers. The ones responsible before God for leading your churches and your families in doctrinally sound spiritual growth. You’ve got to get this for the sake of the girls and women you lead:
Women respond differently to false teachers than men do.
And, ladies, we need to understand this about ourselves, too. Continue reading
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