John Piper wants me to quit my job.

I just started reading the 1993 Christianity Today Book of the Year: Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism. (edited by John Piper and Wayne Grudem) I'm one chapter in and already feeling a little under the microscope. What are the proper aspirations of a Biblically-minded woman? Piper's introduction lays out a definition of what it means to be feminine** and expands upon how that affects a woman's day to day choices.

First the definition: "At the heart of mature femininity is a freeing disposition to affirm, receive and nurture strength and leadership from worthy men in ways appropriate to a woman's differing relationships."

Piper takes care to articulate himself--to explain what he means and does not mean by several of those hot-button words (like "lead" and "nurture" and "receive") that have taken on many skewed connotations over the years and amongst differing cultures. I would highly encourage you to pick up the book for yourself so that you get the full argument, as I am clearly glossing over many of his important points to get to the part that really struck me.

That being, a particular charge (number 11 of 15 in his conclusion) to women:

"That you not assume that secular employment is a greater challenge or a better use of your life than countless opportunities of service and witness in the home, the neighborhood, the community, the church, and the world; that you not only pose the question: career or full time home-maker? but that you ask just as seriously: full time career or freedom for ministry? That you ask: Which would be greater for the Kingdom--to work for someone who tells you what to do to make his or her business prosper, or to be God's free agent dreaming your own dream about how your time and your home and your creativity could make God's business prosper? And that in all this you make your choices not on the basis of secular trends or upward lifestyle expectations, but on the basis of what will strengthen the faith of the family and advance the cause of Christ."

Those who know me understand that I surely do not have a beef with the idea of staying home for an appropriate season to nurture and raise my children. Dropping my job because my small children need me to care for them would be more of a joy than a burden for someone whose greatest "career" goal always meant family anyways. But what I do want to reckon with is how my femininity should be expressed as a single, self-supporting woman during this chapter in my life. Certainly, I must hold a job so I can pay rent, and I understand the concept that my current job is also included within my mission and ministry here in LA. So while I'm clearly not considering to put in my two-weeks notice, as I continue to read and reevaluate my perception of God's calling for women, I want to allow that to inform my trajectory in life. What do I chase after? How do I hone the gifts and passions that God has instilled within me? How can I pursue biblical femininity in my current stage of singleness? And how might that change when I step into the next chapter of life?



**Piper also includes a lengthy description of masculinity, which for the purposes of my posting, I won't get into. But for the curious, he defines it as this: "At the heart of mature masculinity is a sense of benevolent responsibility to lead, provide for, and protect women in ways appropriate to a man's differing relationships."