Women Who Broke the Mold

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Wednesday, May 02, 2007 - Women Who Broke the Mold

We see in Luke 8 that Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna and many other women broke the molds of their day in order to follow Jesus Christ, support Him and testify to His power in their lives.

Yes, these women pushed the limits, they exceeded the boundaries, they ignored tradition. Undoubtedly they must have gotten lots of funny looks and perhaps some strong lectures from other people who thought they had overstepped their boundaries as they traveled all over following Jesus and supporting His ministry. But I don't think they cared what people thought.

You see, they were breaking the mold, but not for the sake of saying they had broken the mold. They weren't trying to blaze new paths for women, nor were they rebelling against unfair treatment.

They were women who were driven–but not by a desire to show people what women could do. They were driven by a fierce love and commitment to the Man who had changed their lives–the Messiah who had come to deliver them from their bondage. And they just couldn't let traditional molds keep them from sharing that truth.

I believe this example left to us by these most unusual women gives us a guideline to follow as women in today's world. Can we–should we–be mold-breakers? The guiding principle is that when a tradition or a mold inhibits our ability to share Jesus Christ–to follow Him in new and effective ways, then breaking the mold is the right thing to do.

Now, understand that I'm not talking about breaking scriptural principles, but I am talking about the boxes that people sometimes would put us into because we're women, the limitations we place on ourselves because of traditional female roles.

We sometimes use our female roles as an excuse for not going into our worlds with the Gospel. They become the skirts we hide behind, our rationalizations for not sticking our necks out to serve the Lord in new and meaningful ways.

How about you? Ready to break some molds. Look at these women in Luke 8, and ask God to give you the wisdom and courage to know when to break away from what is "acceptable behavior" into new territory, in order to follow Him more perfectly.