Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Rebekah


Looking back over my journal around New Years, I found an entry from last January in which I wrote down some admirable traits I saw in Rebekah in Genesis 24, and, from those things, some guidelines a young woman should follow if she is to marry a truly godly man. Here are the things I recorded, along with some extra thoughts I jotted down afterwards:

  • She must not be "of the world"; rather she should be a fellow Christian, "kinswoman" through Christ (vv. 3,4)
  • She should be willing to joyfully serve her family, even if it is in just the mundane tasks of life, like drawing water (v. 15)
  • She should be ready and happy to serve others (v. 18)
  • She should be attentive to others' needs, willing to go the second mile (v. 19)
  • She should be pure in heart and body, keeping herself for the man she marries (v. 16)
  • She should be hospitable (v. 25)
  • She should be willing to do God's will when it becomes clear, and won't be hindered by earthly ties (v. 58)
  • She should be modest, not set on catching a guy's eye (v. 65)
  • When she is married, she should be willing and equipped to tend to her husband's physical, emotional, and spiritual needs (v. 67)
The predominant feature that stands out to me is submissiveness and a servant's heart towards authorities, towards fellow Christians, and above all, to God. If I do not have a servant's heart here at home, I definitely won't have one when I'm married. Now is the time to develop a heart of submission and service to all who are around me, as a habit, so when the time comes for me to be a wife, I will be able to be a help suitable for my husband.

4 comments:

juli said...

That's really good. I never really noticed all those little character traits about Rebekah. Thank you for bringing those out!

Amanda said...

True! Good points.

Anonymous said...

These are very good thoughts, Melanie. I have trouble with the service part, too. :S

Gaby said...

I never noticed all of Rebekah's character traits either. Thank you for pointing them out to me. :)

Love,
Gabrielle