About a month ago, I had the joy of hearing Elyse Fitzpatrick speak at a women’s conference in town. She is hilarious, real, and so focused on the Gospel. I jotted down notes during each of her three sessions, but instead of leaving them forgotten in one of many spiral notebooks, I thought I would transcribe some of the highlights here. Hopefully these notes will encourage you and help me to reflect on them again as well.
ON WOMANHOOD AND FEMINISM:
- Feminism is basically a list of rules: You must work… Don’t let a man… Don’t have kids if or until…
- We can’t respond to feminism with more rules: Women must not work… Women should have lots of kids…
- Responding to the rules of feminism with more rules is futile. Rules don’t change people’s hearts. The Gospel changes hearts.
- The majority of 18-32 year old women are single, so stop implying that a woman’s worth is in her uterus. Don’t tell these women they are only valuable if they are married and having babies.
- Motherhood is not your highest calling. What then would you say to the woman who is single? Or barren?
- Luke 8 – Jesus didn’t tell the women following him to “go home.” Even those who were married, like Joanna wife of Chuza, had an active role serving Christ’s ministry.
- Acts 16 – Lydia had gathered her female servants to pray. Paul shared the gospel with them and her whole household was saved. Paul didn’t write them off as “just a bunch of women.” Lydia continued to serve Paul during his time in Philippi.
- Romans 16 – Phoebe was entrusted to carry Paul’s letters to the Romans – a hugely important task.
ON MARRIAGE:
- We operate under the belief that if we follow the law in our relationships with others (for example: I will serve my husband by doing his laundry), they must follow the law in return (and serve us/owe us). This is tat for tat living, not the Gospel.
- Good news: Your husband can be WON without you saying a word. You can trust Christ to get to your husband’s heart.
- Don’t withdraw and pretend sin is not there. Jesus didn’t avoid conflict. He confronted it with prayer and right words.
- We must love our spouse like no one else on earth ever will.
GIFTS to give your husband:
-Acceptance (YOU are fully accepted, but your sin is not.)
-Truth (Confront your husband’s sin and repent of your own sin.)
-Prayer (Who is praying for your husband if not you? Pray also for yourself, that you will see your husband as Jesus does.)
-Forgiveness (It’s the oil that soothes all rough spots.)
ON THE GOSPEL:
- Our sin is only bad news if we don’t have a Savior.
- Your relationship with God is not based on your advancement in holiness. It’s based on Christ’s righteousness, now and always.
- It’s not the gospel if it makes you feel pride OR despair.
- Justification: just as if I had never sinned, just as if I had always obeyed (This is your record before God.)
- When you hear GOOD news your response will not be “I’m going to try harder” but “Thank God for his great love for me!”
Sounds like some great messages! Thanks for sharing your notes with us! They were all certainly good reminders! PS — my notes often end up forgotten in journals and notebooks, so I feel you!