7 Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)
Working with teens has given me a deep respect for the various forms gender takes. All too often we designate to kids what it is to be male or female and consequentially limit the expression of their true God given identity. Pair this with how sitcoms and mind numbing Hollywood blockbusters stereotype gender, and there is little room for students to express themselves. Males are either detached and tough (Jack Bauer) or dopey and aloof (every Kevin James or Tim Allen character). There is little middle ground. Yet Christ calls men to be more than this. Jesus, as our prime example, is compassionate, strong, empathetic, and confident. The same can be said for women. If media is our guide, then their role is to simply shut up, look pretty, and wait for a man to rescue you – or perhaps worse, do everything on your own and love nothing.
Yet this is not Christian, nor is it Biblical
There is a reason Jesus chose women to reveal His resurrection to. In His progressive ministry, He believed women had a unique role to play in the narrative of redemption. The Bible is full of renegade women who crushed cookie cutter gender roles. It can be trusted, if God did in fact create us, that as His prized created beings, men and women must be deeper and more beautifully stitched together than we can ever begin to imagine.
In the Garden, God took dirt and rib and gave man and woman His breath and essence. He exhaled what was to make up our soul and this soul is what we live from. Beyond this, we are truly free to be and to act as we wish, out of our God expelled purpose. Our gender, just like everything else, must be surrendered to our Lord in order to be granted this richest of freedoms. Our God identity comes before any description or classification we place upon ourselves. The result of this is that we now have no need to look, act, or think like society thinks we should. Our gender can now be a tool of worship instead of a mold to fit in.
Today, you are free.
Matt simon blog 