Your Perception Isn’t Necessarily Reality

Proverbs 31:10(NLT) is speaking directly to the man of God when it says, “A good woman is hard to find, and worth far more than diamonds.” There are priceless lessons of God’s wisdom in this verse and they all speak to Heavenly Father’s masterful design of the marital union and the roles of both the man and the woman. When it comes to finding a compatible partner, most women can tell you a little bit about the challenges and pitfalls. They might even complain that there aren’t many good men left in the world. They may be feeling that there simply aren’t enough of them to go around, but we really need to examine how their assumptions stand up to the Word of God.

It cannot be lost on us that Proverbs 31:10 does not say that a good man is hard to find, so how did we manage to get this turned around? As we attempt to answer this question, we must come face to face with the reality that our perception of there not being enough good men may be limited to how we personally see things. Just because we perceive a thing to be a thing, it doesn’t make it everyone’s reality. Something in how we think and behave must shift in order to witness a change in our circumstances and conditions. We must renew our minds to what God says.

1Timothy 2:9-10(NLT) gives us the attributes of what God considers to be a good woman. This passage explains, “And I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes. For women who claim to be devoted to God should make themselves attractive by the good things they do.” Many modern women view this passage in a negative light and dismiss it because they believe it’s a setback for women’s rights. They can’t imagine being submissive in this way and in fact view it as oppressive.

As women of God, we can’t afford to allow any hint of arrogance to interfere with our comprehension of what God is conveying. His Word is perfection and it is impossible for God to make a mistake. He tells us in James 1:5 that if we lack wisdom, we must ask HIM to give it to us. As workmen of His Word, 2Timothy 2:15 commands us to rightly divide the Word of Truth so that we stand approved before God. So, we shouldn’t go to this or that magazine or the latest self-help guru for short sound bites that tickle our ears. When we have a problem with understanding a truth from His Word, we must go to the Source of all truth and ask for clarity. But the thing we absolutely cannot do is think that God’s Word is antiquated or irrelevant in any respect. God’s Word is our bread of life. It is a lamp to our feet, and we cannot do anything of significance in this life without following the directives God has set forth in His Word.

He tells us in Malachi 3:6(NKJV), “For I am the LORD, I do not change.”  God doesn’t change, His Word doesn’t change and His standard for a Godly woman hasn’t changed either. We have gone from dirt roads and horses and buggies to paved interstates and highways and cars that drive themselves. We’ve managed to take just about every concept and invention and improve it exponentially, yet when it comes to God’s Word, we don’t want to improve how we stack up to the example of Christ. We want to do less and not more. Instead of taking God’s standard and applying it to such a degree that His glory shines forth in our lives more brilliant than gold, many of us abandon it altogether.

If we have an attitude or habit of bypassing God’s standard because we haven’t figured out how to apply it, we need to submit to the Holy Spirit and place ourselves totally under his leadership. He will teach us how to apply God’s standard IF we are teachable and flexible to God’s Will. Heavenly Father doesn’t put us in bondage. He delivered us from the bondage of darkness, destruction, and death through His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. So, if we think any form of His statutes are oppressive, we’re in error and need His wisdom.

Our Heavenly Father wants the best for us. We need to spend more time concentrating on meeting His requirements than we do thinking about how a man will meet ours. There’s a certain preparation that a woman consciously makes in her mind when she’s spiritually ready to partner with a good man. She prioritizes God above all else, and she never loses faith in His promises. Recognize that God’s desire is for a family to be united in Jesus Christ. He knows what is necessary to preserve that unity from one generation to the next, and we must be ever so careful not to think that we know better than Him.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

“Your Perception Isn’t Necessarily Reality”, written by Kim Times, edited by Reverend Fran Mack, for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2021. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.

 

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