I’ve been interviewing painters. These days it seems so difficult to find someone who will do any work for a decent price – I mean someone who will do good work for a fair price. But we need the house painted, so I’ve been talking to a few men who claim they know how to wield a brush. The bids have been all over the map – anywhere from sky-high to lunar-high. Until the last guy, who we hired.

After our lucky painter left, I was thinking about something I read in a recent book arguing for distinct roles for men and women in the church. More of a practical how-to than a detailed biblical defense, I imagine that even if I agreed with the premise, numerous ideas would give me pause. One, in particular, came to mind after the departure of our competent and reasonable painter.

The idea is basically that we need to go around looking for ways to be “masculine” or “feminine.” And how do we do that? Well, the author explained, since the essence of femininity is “helping” and the core of masculinity is “leading,” a woman can demonstrate that she is a woman by helping and a man can show that he is a man is by leading. To embrace who God created us to be as men and women, it is important to find opportunities to either lead or help in ways appropriate to our differing relationships. Yet this applies across the board, so that even a woman boss should look for ways to be feminine by helping. Presumably, those she ought to help are men. Continue reading “Awkward! Why I Don’t Look for Ways to be Led by Every Man I Meet.” →