This past weekend, Nancy Leigh Demoss hosted the first True Woman conference in Chicago, IL. I was actually hoping to attend the conference, but I was just a little too slow to act. The conference drew enormous interest and sold out far sooner than expected. Approximately 6,200 women (who apparently understood the importance of acting quickly!) took part in this unusual celebration of Biblical womanhood. The True Woman conference was designed to help women:
1. Discover and embrace God’s created design and mission for their lives
2. Reflect the beauty and heart of Christ to their world
3. Intentionally pass on the baton of Truth to the next generation
4. Pray earnestly for an outpouring of God’s Spirit in their families, churches, nation, and world
Even though you and I weren’t there to enjoy the conference in person, we can still benefit from the messages of such speakers as John Piper, Nancy Leigh Demoss, Joni Eareckson Tada, and several others through the conference website. Check it out at:TrueWoman.com.
I just finished listening to John Piper’s opening message, “The Ultimate Meaning of True Womanhood.” If you can only find time to listen to one of the conference messages, then I highly encourage you to set aside some time to soak in the rich truths of Piper’s message. Maybe you could download it to your iPod and listen as you exercise or sit down to enjoy the message instead of trying to find something on TV. I guarantee you that this message is worth your time! As the only man speaking to a gathering of a few thousand women, Piper offered a unique and powerful perspective on the high calling of women. He based his message on the following assumption:
Wimpy theology makes wimpy women… Wimpy theology simply does not give a woman a God that is big enough, strong enough, wise enough, and good enough to handle the realities of life in a way that magnifies the infinite worth of Jesus Christ. Wimpy theology is plagued by woman-centeredness and man-centeredness. Wimpy theology doesn’t have the granite foundation of God’s sovereignty or the solid steel structure of a great God-centered purpose for all things.
Now, if you are one of the many people who hears the word theology and automatically thinks of a series of dusty, old books lining some long-abandoned seminary shelf, then perhaps you have an inaccurate understanding of the word. Theology is the study of God, and every one of us that is truly seeking to know God better is engaged in the study of theology (whether we realize it or not).
I love Piper’s no-nonsense approach in this message—he doesn’t burden his language with touchy-feely emotionalism like so many women’s speakers do, he simply presents the Biblical truths that we as women so desperately need to hear. As Piper explains God’s design for women, he offers a rarely heard challenge to passionately pursue the deeply satisfying, God-exalting purpose for which we were created. He provided this definition of Biblical femininity, “The ultimate meaning of true womanhood is this: It is a distinctive calling of God to display the glory of his Son in ways that would not be displayed if there were no womanhood.” He goes on to address married women, explaining how they can glorify God in ways that single women cannot, and then likewise addresses single ladies, encouraging them to understand that they too can glorify God in unique ways that married women cannot.
I must confess that I am very often one of those wimpy women mentioned in this message, but in my heart there is a deep longing for so much more. I don’t want to misunderstand the purpose of womanhood, as Piper says, and thereby risk diminishing the glory of Christ in my life. That is a risk that none of us can afford. As Christian women, let’s take up this magnificent challenge:
“Do not settle for a wimpy theology. It is beneath you. God is too great. Christ is too glorious. True womanhood is too strategic. Don’t waste it. Your womanhood—your true womanhood—was made for the glory of Jesus Christ.”
