“I never knew that I could get angry so quickly!”
That was my friend’s response to reading an article called, “10 Women that Christian Men SHOULD NOT Marry.”
Clearly a man wrote this article because it basically picks out every flaw a woman could ever have and says this makes her not fit to marry. No woman is perfect, but I believe the guidelines in that article take things too far. There are almost no women left to choose from after you pick out all 10 of the women listed!
Thankfully, a woman named, Phylicia Delta, picked up the torch for women everywhere and wrote an opposing article pointing out the 10 Women that Christian men SHOULD marry! She shared realistic expectations and in some cases helped to say what I believe the original author intended but did not share in the best way.
One of the most frustrating parts of the first article said men should NOT marry a “Devotion-less Woman.”
“Is the woman having a regular, daily devotional time with her God? If she doesn’t love the Lord now, chances are, she won’t love the Lord after marriage.”
Ok, so I understand what he was trying to say. Yes, men should marry a woman who has an intimate relationship with Jesus and loves Him first. However, I have an intimate relationship with Jesus and yet I still struggle to have devotional time every day with Him. Does that mean that I’m not marriage material? I don’t think so. We all have areas of our life that we are working on and will probably continue to work on our entire life.
Instead I love what Delta said in her article,
“In the end, a Christian man need only look for one thing: a woman sold out to Jesus Christ.
She will believe. She will be faithful. She will be wise, humble, discreet, and an advocate for the needy. She will value life, love, adventure, and work hard.”
Why?
Because she knows the grace of Jesus Christ.
As women, we have enough pressure on us every single day. We do not needed added pressure to be the perfect single woman for a Christian man to marry, the perfect mother to our kids, the perfect wife to our husbands. We are flawed and that’s ok. The single goal for our lives should not be to finally achieve daily devotional time! Instead, our goal should be to love Jesus first and those around us second. Loving Jesus and putting Him first is what will truly make us the kind of women that Christian men SHOULD marry! The rest will just fall into place.
If you are a hot mess, be encouraged. I am too and I do not think that means for one second that I am not “marriage material.”
– Joy