TWC – 5th Speaker – Mary Kassian

Mary-Kassian-Small-ApprovedThe evening session began with much anticipation of what the Lord would teach us through Mary Kassian.  Mrs. Kassian, who faithfully pointed us to God’s Word, is a distinguished professor of Women’s Studies at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and the author of several books, including The Feminist Mistake and Girls Gone Wise in a World Gone Wild.

Mrs. Kassian tactfully addressed the topic of “Women Gone Wild,” warning that Christian women are particularly in danger of living wild lives.  In fact, she said “the world would have us believe that women going wild make the world go round.”  Unfortunately, we have bought into this lie and, often, celebrate our “freedom” to be wild.

Using Proverbs 7, she pointed out marks of wildness and how they show up in our hearts and lives.  This chapter, which is a wise father’s advice to his son about the type of woman he should marry, is also a tale of a woman gone wild.  It is full of valuable information about the type of women we ought not to be. She shared three helpful insights from this passage that will help us to walk in the way of wisdom.

First, we see that wildness warps true womanhood.  Sin targets us sex-specifically, as seen in God’s sex-specific judgments in Genesis 3, and leads us to get our womanhood wrong.  Instead of being who God created us to be, we are often warped in our behavior.  We present ourselves provocatively, have crafty hearts, have a clamorous disposition, live as insolent and defiant, have self-indulgent priorities, act as aggressors, depend on men for purpose, get our fix from things, have an attitude of entitlement, are non-committal, and have destructive speech habits.  And, this just scratches the surface of the wickedness that has the potential to penetrate our hearts.

In addition, Mrs. Kassian pointed out that there is a powerful pull on women to go wild.  Strikingly, the woman described in Proverbs 7 was a religious woman with a divided heart.  The wildness we display when our hearts are impure is a rejection of God’s rule.  Satan delights in this rebellion because he knows that we are powerful influencers. As a result of wildness, we promote the norms of our culture, instead of using our influence to reflect the beauty of Christ and the grace of His Bride.

Finally, Mrs.Kassian urged us to realize that being a true woman requires that we intentionally turn from being wild to wise.  She posed the powerful question, “What do you think would happen if we bowed our knees and repented of every wild tendency of our hearts?”

Mary Kassian’s teaching was a timely message that must be embraced by us, as Christian women, for the sake of the legacy that we will leave behind.  Our lives will bear fruit that points to someone or something.  We will either dishonor our holy God by living for our own fleeting pleasures, or we will adorn the doctrine of our Savior through self-controlled, upright, and godly lives that point to the lasting joy we have in Christ and His ways.

True, wise womanhood, according to God’s design, is not about exalting womanhood, but about exalting Jesus. Oh that God would be pleased to transform our wildness, make us wise, and give us hearts that bow before Him and repent of every wild tendency. Surely then we would see revival spread through our land.  Let it be, Lord Jesus.