Crushes + True Love: Twenty-Seven Things I Wish I Knew When I Was Twelve

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Part of what makes teenagers so complex is our emotions. When we’re young kids, we feel pretty much three things: happy, sad, and angry.

 

And then by the time we’re twelve or thirteen things really start to change – and we feel things like infatuation (which we can often confuse with love) and deeper emotions like stress and anxiety that confuse us so much, especially as young teens.

 

Like most people my age, I started noticing myself and others more, and was curious about boys, crushes, dating, and true love.

Continue reading “Crushes + True Love: Twenty-Seven Things I Wish I Knew When I Was Twelve”

The Hidden Problem With The “Love Your Body” Message

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I remember when all the culture said was “You aren’t good enough.”

 

I remember when the only valued people were the drop-dead gorgeous ones. The actors; the models.

 

We were all told as a society that beauty meant skinny, value meant tall, worth something meant attractive.

 

And then a few years ago, the tables flipped.

Continue reading “The Hidden Problem With The “Love Your Body” Message”

Feminism is Destroying the Distinction Between Genders.

Feminism is Destroying the Distinction Between Genders.

If a woman can run for president, and a woman can be an astronaut, or a woman can be a doctor, or a lawyer, what makes a woman any different than a man?

If a woman works a full-time job while the man raises their kids, what makes a woman a woman?

If feminism says that women can do anything men can do, what does that mean?

If two women or two men can legally get married, then what is gender?

 

If we tell ourselves that women and men are the same, why do we even have different genders? What’s the point?

Or even, transgenderism. If a man feels that he’s really a woman in the “wrong” body, he can decide to be a she. So what’s the point of having two separate genders anyway?

Feminism is dangerous because it gives men and women the same roles. It completely disregards God’s design for masculinity and femininity and gives us all a choice where it is not our place to make it.

I’m not saying that a girl shouldn’t be able to work. I’m not implying that a guy shouldn’t be able to do housework.

But what I am saying is that when we forget the distinction between genders, and implant feminism into the way we think, we have a chance of crossing the lines of biblical femininity and masculinity. We discredit our self-worth and ascribe it to what we accomplish or prove.

I’m not saying men are better than women. We are absolutely 100% equal. However, we cannot make our roles identical, for to do so would be to discredit the uniqueness of each gender and therefore God’s design.

Let me back up a little bit. A minute ago, I asked the question, what makes a woman any different than a man?

And that’s the question of the century.

In this post along with two more, I hope to address some of these questions that we’ve all been asking. They’re really tough, I know.

The first thing I’d like to point out in all of this is that our worth and value does not come from proving ourselves. When we embrace feminism, we convince ourselves that women aren’t worth as much as men unless they’re treated the same.

Society says we have to have the same roles because we won’t be equal if we don’t.

Wait, what?

This is as ridiculous as arguing over whether eyes or ears are more important.

Come on, people. They’re both valuable. But they each have their own separate roles.

Just like men and women. God created men to be leaders and protectors, and women to be nurturers and supporters. By embracing feminism and confusing genders, we discredit our true worth.

As Christians, we can’t be confused by our culture’s marred view of gender. We have the Bible: the inspired word of God. Why don’t we use it?

Genesis 1:27

“So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.”

God created male and female in His image. We are separate. But that’s not something we should ever despise.

Psalm 139:13-15

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.”

We were formed with utmost care. Everything about us has been purposefully handcrafted by God. It’s not our place to look at ourselves and try to change how God created us. God created gender, and even though it doesn’t seem this simple a lot of times, He has a purpose in the way He created you.

And finally, verses on why we He saved us.

Titus 3:4-7

“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

How do these all connect? Well, for one, it shows that God made us all specifically. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. He made us to be either male or female, and neither is better than the other. And when He saved us from our sins, it wasn’t because of anything we’ve ever done. We don’t deserve salvation. We don’t deserve love. Still, that’s what we’ve been given.

And I think that it links back to our culture’s ever-present destructive feminism and gender confusion.

We as humans (incorrectly) see ourselves as worth something if we accomplish a feat or a destiny.

When women are seen as weak and the underdogs, they want to step up and say, “I can do this.” Ambition isn’t necessarily bad, but we all have to remember that our worth is not defined by our works. It is defined by the cross.

In the next two posts, I’m planning on discussing what it looks like to live in biblical femininity (if you’re a girl) and biblical masculinity (if you’re a guy).

I understand if you don’t agree with me. A lot of people won’t, and I’m not here to judge. But as Christians, we can’t stand idly by while our guidebook is right in front of us.

God loves all of us. Every single one. He’s created all of us with a purpose and a plan, and we can’t take that for granted.

*aj

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