To be totally honest with you I would rather just skip straight past this passage.

1 Timothy 2:1-15

Reference:  v.9  I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes (NIV Bible)

Explore:  To be totally honest with you I would rather just skip straight past this passage.  I sit here at my Mac computer, an ordained female minister wearing my most expensive jeans, two gold rings, and pearl earrings.  What would Paul have thought of me?!  However, seeing I am still sitting here after reading 1 Timothy 2 (and I have not run upstairs to change my jewellery and I have not called my boss to put in my resignation) you can gather where I stand on this passage.  I grew up in a church that still insists that women should not be in leadership.  I tend to focus more on Galatians 3:28.

Application:  There are many people, many of whom are much greater theologians than I, who have spent copious amounts of time pouring over this passage and putting it into perspective of all of Paul's writings.  I do not desire to use this space as a place of rebuttal to the on-going dialogue regarding women in leadership.  What I do wish to say is that God's Spirit is alive and active in all peoples lives today.  If the Spirit is prompting you to do something then you need to be obedient to God's call.  I believe that the Spirit has called me to minister to a new faith community in the northern suburbs of Melbourne.  I don't ask you to comment or approve, I just act in obedience to God's call.  Whether you are male or female, people will give you their opinion on what you are doing.  It is more important to listen to the prompting of the Spirit than anything another human may say.

Prayer:  Lord, You call every single human to love You and love others.  May we fulfill this call with a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.  Amen.

What is God's Spirit prompting you to do?