More than Dishes and Laundry
“A woman is capable of more than washing dishes and folding laundry.”- Every feminist ever
It seems as though the feminist agenda has normalized the idea that any lazy idiot can be a homemaker. According to their false gospel, real women are capable of so much more. Striving toward greater goals is promised to bring greater joys. Being a distinctly feminine homemaker has become subsidiary; a nod to an old-fashioned social construct.
How should the Christian woman proceed?
Having been given a calling from God to be a busy home-builder (Titus 2:5 and Proverbs 31:27), how does she stand before her Feminist peers and justify her “loss of potential” since she is physically capable of doing more than dishes and laundry?
It’s quite simple.
She must repent.
She must repent of being a sub-par home-builder. The Feminists have shone light on a bit of our sin. Truthfully, too many women have not exercised their true potential within the ‘homebuilding role’ that God has given to them. Instead, they have nestled into the 1950’s model of womanhood and remained stagnant.
When God gave the woman the managerial position of the domestic realm, it was under the pretense that she would turn a profit on what she was given. Anyone with a meager amount of common sense can reason that a business is only successful if it can turn a profit; breaking even will not be sustainable for long. The Christian home is no different. God has entrusted great wealth to the Husband and Wife team. The task at hand is to take the wealth that has been distributed to us by God and make it grow. Mere household survival, or “breaking even” is not the goal/task given to a woman.
Women are capable of doing more than dishes and laundry, that is true. The Feminists, being led by their father, Satan, would encourage women to abandon post and search for added value in another position (likely a man’s). That encouragement is foolishness.
Alternatively (and mercifully), we have Biblical wisdom to be led by. The reading of Proverbs 31 illustrates beautifully how a Godly woman may invest her resources wisely.
"She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar. She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands, she plants a vineyard. She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night. She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy.”
- Proverbs 31:13-20
Likewise, Titus 2 shares similar wisdom,
“Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled” (Titus 2:3-5).
Nowhere in these verses do we see an ignorant or incompetent woman; barely using the full capacity of her mental and physical potential. We see a strong, driven, skilled warrior... but, the weapons given to her for brandishing are not forged from iron and steel. If you want to see her use her weapons, you must not look to the city gates, or to the battlefield. That is the reach of her husband's realm.
Instead, look to her home. There you will find her brandishing her weapons of fertility, frugality, hospitality, and education. These are the means used to turn a profit on her home building endeavor.
For this woman, washing dishes isn't merely an exercise in cleanliness. It is necessary for the godly woman to feed her troops. She is preparing and training them for battle. The children and other women that God has entrusted and placed in her life to disciple, benefit greatly from her sacrificial meal preparations and dishwashing.
For her, laundry is not just a monotonous task slowly stealing her soul. Instead, the garments that she prepares for her household are royal vestiges and symbols of success. Their maintenance and exhibition are joyful confirmation and exaltation of God’s blessing on her home-building.
This woman can see her efforts in food preparation and garment distribution as highly spiritual. God himself (sacrificially) prepares a table for His covenant people in the presence of their enemies (Psalm 23:5). He also graciously gives his people a garment of praise in exchange for their mourning (Isaiah 61:3).
She does not fear the snow and adversarial elements, because her home is well-built.
“Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.”
- Proverbs 31:31
The Godly woman is a woman that rejects the Feminist ideal because she can see through its cheap veneer.
“Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;
you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots around your table.”
- Psalm 128:1-3
These verses speak toward the fertility and the fruitful nature of the Godly woman. The blessing of fertility is a prominent theme in scripture. From the creation mandate in Genesis, to a call to disciple propagation in Matthew, the instruction for reproduction is clear. Have babies. Raise them as covenant members. Cover the earth with the glory of God. Expand Christ's kingdom. Be a fruitful vine.
The calling of a Godly woman is higher and more satisfying than any alternative calling the world could offer...she laughs at its invitations. They seem silly. Why would a fruitful vine ever be tempted by the bleating of dry bones?
This woman is placid but she is not complacent. Her desire to create is well placed in the home, and that is where her priority lies.
The church must repent of the weak, watered-down version of complementarity that it has offered to its women. The Bible knows nothing of that variety. Similarly, the church must also repent from encouraging its women to abandon their God-assigned posts. The Feminist culture applauds while Christ followers openly default on the assignments which God has given to them.
Only in submission to scripture, through proper fear of the Lord, can we, as women, ever aspire to have an abundant return on our investment. God alone will bless the work of our hands. May we as women, properly fear the Lord and obey His words. That the word of our God may not be reviled and that we may contribute to the expansion of His kingdom.