A Strong Home

(Proverbs 14:1 KJV)  Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.

I don’t think this is a literal statement.  No woman “builds” (1129) a “house” (1004) in the roof and walls sense.  But they do build the atmosphere that permeates that house.  In our day of radical feminism this is an unpopular idea.  To many people it would seem sexist and out of date.

To start with, you have a decision to make today.  Do you accept the Bible as the word of God?  Do you believe it is inspired by God?  Don’t get sidetracked into an argument about what “inspired” means.  There are many definitions.  The question is, “Do you believe that the Bible is a means of communication that God has supervised and must you listen to what it says?”  If you say “No” then you have obviously wandered in here by mistake.  You are welcome but much of what is said here will seem strange.  If you say “Yes,” then today work on taking it more seriously.

While reading Proverbs I have come across many indications that women had more status in Jewish culture than was normal for the day and surrounding norms.  They were not “liberated” by any means, but they were much more free than women in nations around them.  This goes back to creation where the Bible says:

(Genesis 1:27 KJV)  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

At the other end of the spectrum we find Paul’s statement:

(Galatians 3:28 KJV)  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

Having said that, the role of the woman in building the home is pivotal.  My wife laughs about how one of the roles of wives is to civilize their husbands.  Often there is real truth in that.  Men when they are by themselves act different than when they are with women they respect.  One of the reasons that our society is seeing so many problems is that little boys don’t have fathers in the home to look up to.  One of the reasons that the fathers are not in the home is because women have begun to look at them as nothing but studs and don’t want them around for any other reason. 

Where one woman builds another “plucketh” (tears down NASB) (2040).  One makes her family stronger the other destroys it.  My kids pointed out a bumper sticker to me.  It is a take off of a popular sexual joke.  It goes like this, “So many women...So few ladies.”  Many women have set their goal to become one of the guys.  I watched a panel at a computer hackers conference.  It was on parenting.  No joke.  In typical hacker style one of the speakers was unmarried and had no children.  She never intended to have children.  She was the one who had the foulest mouth of the whole group.  Everyone laughed, but there was a nervousness about the laughter.

Ladies, are you going to build up or tear down?  Gentlemen, are you going to love and support or accept the destruction of your home?  It is up to you.