This article originally appeared on Missionary Network News and was written by guest author Payton Lechner – check it out here.
“If God loves me, why would he make me a girl?”
This is a question Lisa Pak of Finishing the Task ministry was asked by a young woman.
Photo by Andrey K via Unsplash
“How do you answer that?” Pak asks. “For all the things that I can do… the world is unfair. It is very much still a man’s world.”
Misogyny, sexism, and abuse against women are still prevalent around the globe, and they come in a variety of forms, including:
- Sexual abuse
- Human trafficking
- Lack of female education
- Child marriage
- Female genital mutilation
“The culture has deformed and continues to oppress that identity of God, the image of God, in women—in God’s daughters,” Pak says.
When this is the daily lived experience of a young woman, it makes it hard for her to believe in an all-powerful, all-loving God who sees her.
“Culture has been telling her that she’s less than—less than the boys, less than the older women, less than the cattle depending on the culture…” Pak says. “And now somebody comes with this message that God loves you, but she’s never felt it. And so that to her just does not make sense… ‘If he didn’t have to make me a girl, then why did he?’”
It’s a question being asked by women across the globe in parts of the world where the Gospel either has not reached or hasn’t yet begun to change the culture. According to Pak, when someone faces such intense of pressure from the culture around them, it takes internal strength for them to overcome it.
Photo by Andrey K via Unsplash.
“That’s where I believe the gospel needs to take seed in a people group—especially when the culture is so overwhelming for the girls—and in her individual heart…” Pak explains. “She needs to know that God is love, because that is the only way that you can overcome all the evil voices and the lies of the enemy that tell you that you are a less-than.”
So what can be done to transform the culture and help these young women? Pak believes it starts with how we live.
“I think the first step is your mothers, your daughters, your aunties, your nieces… you start treating them with the respect that you would treat somebody who carries the image of God, as Christ-bearers.”
For those of us who are daughters of Christ, it also starts with recognizing our own dignity—“you need to know how much you are loved, because it’s out of that heart that you’re able to love others.”
Ultimately, it’s going to take God’s people living out the Great Commission and sharing the gospel, in order for God’s love to reach people like the young girl Pak spoke with.
“So many women around the world, they’re not seen. They’re just part of the background, just the white noise, just part of the din of society. That’s not where God has placed his daughters… The Lord has created them in his image, and the dignity has been robbed by the sinfulness and the brokenness of this world.”
“…But God is just, and in those small moments, we can uplift one girl’s head. We can treat them with dignity. We can give them hope, and we can demonstrate confidence as women ourselves, to step up and be humble yet bold, and have that inner fortitude.”
