Christian Women Have The Power To Change The World

I’m convinced that the most influential people on planet Earth are mothers. Not presidents or queens or CEO’s. Just plain ‘ole moms. Yes, women a lot like your mom, and mine, too.

Women bring people into the world (literally) and are directly responsible for raising them up. They teach, clean, cook, exhort, discipline, and reward us when the time is right. If it weren’t for godly mother’s, just imagine how much worse this world would be.

Yet before they ever become mommies, they are first little girls. Those little cutie pies grow up to be young ladies. Those young ladies grow wise and strong, transforming into beautiful women, adorned by a lifetime of experiences and motherly instinct.

Such women are capable of changing the world. They control tomorrow’s generation, and are–themselves—the generation of today.

Yes, if anyone in the world has the power and the potential to change the hearts and minds of this world, it must be the Christian women.

Your Life Speaks Louder Than Words

But how can such a woman affect a culture? How can a godly woman change the hearts and minds of those in her community? How can a saintly woman alter age-old stereotypes, break down the ancient walls of bitterness, and mold a better world?

By her godly character, that’s how!

At my church, I’m nearing the end of a study on the book of Ruth. I have learned many things from this inspired book, but the one element that sticks out like a fuzzy, purple thumb is the excellent virtue of that young Moabite widow.

Ruth was a young woman from a godless culture. After the death of her husband, she left her home, her parents, her people, her culture, and with a barren womb, went to live in a tiny little village with a bitter mother-in-law. Not the best of circumstances, for sure. If there ever was a woman with two strikes against her, Ruth would certainly qualify.

She was a Moabite. She was a widow. Apparently she was barren, for she and Mahlon never had children. When she left Moab to live in a city full of Israelites, I can’t imagine a worse choice of residency. In fact, the people of Bethlehem probably thought God specifically killed Mahlon because he married Ruth.

You see, the Jews absolutely hated the Moabites. The Moabites worshipped Chemosh, a false deity that the people believed required child sacrifice. But the animosity between the Jews and Moabites went much deeper than that. In fact, the beginning of the Moabites can be traced back to the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah itself!

You Are Not Defined By Your Past Experiences

When the fire and brimstone rained down from the heaven’s, consuming those two cities, a man named Lot, his wife, and his two adult daughters fled for refuge in the mountains. Lot’s wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. Hiding in a cave, tucked away in the mountains, Lot and his daughter’s must have assumed the entire world was going up in the flames.

After this strange series of events, Lot’s daughters got their father drunk with wine and had sex with him.  They both conceived children through this incestuous endeavor, and the enemies of Israel were born (literally) shortly thereafter.  The Scripture reads,

Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. The firstborn bore a son, and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. As for the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father of the sons of Ammon to this day (Genesis 19:36-38; underline mine).

So that’s how the people of Moab found their beginning. That’s the culture Ruth was born into and raised in. But her environment never determined the content of her character.

When Ruth and her mother-in-law, Naomi, exited Moab for Bethlehem, they left everything behind. They left dead husbands six feet under, and everything else they had accumulated and lost in the ten years Elimilech and his family sojourned in Moab.

When the time came to leave, Naomi tried time and time again to convince Ruth to remain in Moab because, from a human perspective, Bethlehem offered nothing for Ruth except more trials and difficulties. Naomi wanted Ruth to be fully convinced of her decision to leave everything she knew. For in Bethlehem, all she would meet were cultural and national enemies.

Ruth’s character was clearly manifest, however, for she told Naomi,

Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me (Ruth 1:16-17).

When they entered Bethlehem, there was no food and even less hope. Ruth decided to try to glean in the fields of someone in whose sight she might find favor. The Lord orchestrated the events for Ruth to end up in the field of a wealthy and prominent man named Boaz.

A short while later, Boaz went into the field to speak directly with Ruth. No doubt there was much to gossip about when Naomi strolled back into Bethlehem, bereft of her husband and two sons, and dragging a Moabitess behind her. But the Bethlehemites also couldn’t miss the fact that Ruth was an uncommon woman for leaving everything behind her in order to take care of her mother-in-law.

Boaz said to Ruth,

All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know. May the Lord reward your work, and your wages be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge (Ruth 2:11-12).

Your Life Is Mightier Than Your Tongue

DON’T MISS THIS. Ruth never preached a sermon, never performed a miracle, and never wrote book. She had no civic power, position, or money, and yet the godliness of her character was beginning to change the hearts of a culture. Behold the power that virtuous women possess!

After two more months of gleaning in Boaz’s field, Naomi came up with a plan in order to seek security for Ruth. After a midnight conversation with Boaz on the threshing floor, Ruth reminded Boaz that he’s a close relative (a kinsman redeemer) and that she is eligible for redemption. That is, to be married to a close relative.

In response to Ruth’s proposition, Boaz replied,

May you be blessed of the Lord, my daughter. You have shown your last kindness to be better than the first by not going after young men, whether poor or rich. Now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you whatever you ask, for all my people in the city know that you are a woman of excellence (Ruth 3:10-11; underline mine).

Just a few hours after dawn, Boaz secured Ruth as his wife, they married, had sexual relations, and Ruth eventually had a baby boy. The women in that Jewish city were overcome by God’s goodness to Naomi in that He saw fit to make sure that Ruth stuck by her side. As the months progressed through Ruth’s pregnancy, her godly character so affected—(so impacted)—the other women in Bethlehem that they publically confessed to Naomi,

Blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer today, and may his name become famous in Israel. May he also be to you a restorer of life and a sustainer of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him (Ruth 4:14-15; underline mine).

For a woman in that culture, to be barren was to be cursed by God. Every woman wanted a child, and a son could take care of them when they grew old. The women all agreed that Ruth was better than seven such sons.

• Ruth changed a culture.
• Ruth changed stereotypes.
• Ruth changed hearts.
• Ruth did all this through her actions, not her words.

Faith Without Works Is Dead

As a preacher myself, I know how important words can be. But I also know that people will forget most of my words by the following Sunday, yet they’ll remember a great illustration many years later.

And that’s what your life is, ladies.

You are a story for all the world to read. You’re the main character, but God is the Author. You don’t need a grand platform to change the world. All that you need to do is maintain a godly lifestyle before all the world to see, and then wait for the hearts of your city to be impacted.

Let your light shine. Live for the glory of God, and the glory of the Lord will permeate your village.

Ladies…Christian women…you are more powerful than you could ever imagine. Don’t ever forget that.

[stextbox id=”custom”]QUESTION: In what ways can women (both young and old) change people’s perceptions by the way that they live? How can Christian women live in such a way that their Savior is put on display for all the world to see? [/stextbox]

* Image credit: Travis Silva (Creation Swap)