A Biblical Portrait of Womanhood (Part 1) - Nancy Leigh DeMoss

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A Biblical Portrait of Womanhood (Part 1) - Nancy Leigh DeMoss
A Biblical Portrait of Womanhood (Part 2) - Nancy Leigh DeMoss
A Biblical Portrait of Womanhood (Part 3) - Nancy Leigh DeMoss
A Biblical Portrait of Womanhood (Part 4) - Nancy Leigh DeMoss
A Biblical Portrait of Womanhood (Part 5) - Nancy Leigh DeMoss

FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript

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God's Woman in Today's Culture

Day 1 of 5

Guest: Nancy Leigh DeMoss

From the series: A Biblical Portrait of Womanhood

Bob: How should we understand womanhood biblically? And why are we so confused about it, anyway? Here is Nancy Leigh DeMoss.

Nancy: Let me say that I think it is the nature, ever since the fall of man and woman, to chafe against God. But, for me, the essence of femininity is to embrace the concept of surrender as a woman to become a receiver, a responder, and surrendered to the heart and the will of God.

Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Monday, June 16th. Our host is the president of FamilyLife, Dennis Rainey, and I'm Bob Lepine. How well does your understanding of womanhood line up with what the Bible teaches? We'll talk about that today. Stay tuned.

And welcome to FamilyLife Today, thanks for joining us on the Monday edition. You know, for the last many years, there has been a movement in our country where a lot of men are looking around and asking the question, "What does it mean to be a man? What does the Scripture teach us about authentic biblical manhood?" And I think that while that's been going on, Dennis, there have also been a lot of women who are beginning to say, "I'm not so sure I know what it means to be an authentic woman biblically. I'm not sure I know what the Scriptures teach about biblical womanhood," and that's what we're going to take some time to focus on this week.

Dennis: Yes, in Genesis, chapter 1, verse 27, it's clear – "And God created man in His own image, in the image of God, He created him – male and female, He created them." And God's image is at stake in both men and women, and there has been a great deal of attention that has been given to defining manhood. But at points it feels like there has been a little bit of a silence concerning a voice of trying to cast a portrait of what it means to be a woman. And with us here on the broadcast is another man to help us define and paint a portrait of what it means to be a woman.

Bob: Hang on, that would be a serious error on your part, technically.

Dennis: Do you think that I would be flawed in my judgment, Bob, to bring another male species in here to do that?

Bob: I think three men could sit around and attempt to define femininity …

Dennis: And we would lose our entire female listening audience.

Bob: There would be a lot of women who would say, "I'm not sure you know of what you speak."

Dennis: Well, with us in the studio is Nancy Leigh DeMoss. Nancy is a great friend. She's been on FamilyLife Today before. Nancy, welcome back to FamilyLife Today.

Nancy: Thank you, Dennis.

Dennis: She puts up with us a lot. She just kind of looks at us and nods and says …

Bob: … rolls her eyes …

Dennis: … yeah, that's exactly right. Nancy is a graduate of the University of Southern California. She has a degree in piano performance. Nancy, are you really that good? I've heard you are.

Nancy: Well, that's kind of a past-tense part of my life.

Dennis: Oh, is it?

Bob: I know you haven't had a whole lot of time to do much piano performing in the last several years. As many of our listeners know, Dennis, Nancy hosts a daily radio program that's heard on many of these same stations. It's called "Revive our Hearts." You've been busy writing a number of books including the bestseller, Lies Women Believe," and the companion now, "Lies Young Women Believe." There has also been a trilogy of books on surrender and brokenness and holiness, and this fall you're going to be involved in a national conference for women in Chicago called "True Woman '08." Joni Eareckson Tada is going to be speaking there; so is Janet Parshall, John Piper is going to be there, you're going to be there, Dennis; your wife, Barbara, is speaking as part of that conference, and if our listeners are interested in finding out more about True Woman '08 they can go online at FamilyLife.com and click on "Today's Broadcast," and there is a link there that will get them information on how they can attend this national conference taking place in Chicago. And with all of that going on, there's not a whole lot of time left for piano playing.

Dennis: Nancy, we have laughed here early, but there is a great deal of tension when it comes to talking about what it means to being a man or a woman today, and a great deal of confusion. What do you think has caused this confusion? What's the greatest contributor to the confusion of what it means to be a woman today?

Nancy: Well, let me just give a word of personal testimony here and say that being a woman is not something that I have always embraced with joy myself. I did have the privilege of growing up in a godly home and under the strong ministry of the Word, but I can remember, as a teenager and young woman, feeling a measure of resentment …

Dennis: Really?

Nancy: … even, at the fact that God had made me a woman. And the reason, in my case, was that I so wanted to serve the Lord, had a passion for Christ and for ministry, and in my young thinking, it was men who were best able to do that. And I had this quiet sense in my heart that if God had made me a man, then I would be better able to serve Him. I would be able to serve Him more effectively.

Dennis: In other words, you viewed your womanhood as a limitation to being used by God in the way that you dreamed of being used.

Nancy: I did. ...