There is no ignoring the women’s march that took place this past Saturday in all fifty states and in over sixty countries.
Upon first glance, this women’s march could have appealed to many—and it did, even to some Christians. I know of women who marched against injustice, racism, misogyny, poverty, and much more.
There is nothing inherently wrong with women joining together to march for awareness of an issue. In fact, many women will be doing just that at today’s March for Life.
But while the specific issues women marched for this past Saturday are as varied as the participants’ faces, the organizers’ intent for the march was crystal clear.
The Principles Behind This March
For one, this women’s march was built around “reproductive rights.” In the organizers’ words:
This means open access to safe, legal, affordable abortion . . . for all people.
This is so important to them, that the week of the event they disinvited a fellow feminist group that was also pro-life. Turns out this women’s march wasn’t as inclusive as was originally claimed. As a woman who values and desires to protect human life, I will not—I cannot—participate in a march for a woman’s right to murder her own child, created in the image of God (Ps. 139:13–14).
This woman’s march was also built around “LGBTQIA rights.” In their words:
We must have the power to control our bodies and be free from gender norms, expectations and stereotypes.
I would welcome a person who practices “LGBTQIA” behaviors into my home and life as a friend. But I cannot march for their right to be free from God’s beautiful design for their life as male or female (Gen. 1:27) any more than I can march for anyone’s right to rebel against the King in any area of life.
The Spirit of This March
In addition to disagreeing with these values around which the the march’s organizers were united, I also cannot express solidarity with the spirit in which many of these women sought to be heard.
For example, here’s a snippet from Madonna’s speech at the Washington, D.C., event:
Welcome to the revolution of love. To the rebellion. . . . It took us this darkness to wake us the f--- up. . . . Yes, I'm angry. Yes, I am outraged. Yes, I have thought an awful lot of blowing up the White House, but I know that this won’t change anything.
Or Angela Davis, another speaker at the main event:
The next 1,459 days of the Trump administration will be 1,459 days of resistance: Resistance on the ground, resistance in the classrooms, resistance on the job, resistance in our art and in our music.
As a follower of Christ, I am called to march to a different beat. There is a better way.
There Is a Better Way
Regardless of your concerns about what the next four years might hold, here are three truths you can count on.
- God will use our President to accomplish His purposes, even if things do go dreadfully. I love what I just read in Isaiah 10. In 722 BC, God used arrogant Assyria as a tool in His hand to judge His people, Israel, for their sin. Listen to how God speaks of this godless king and nation:
Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury! (v. 5).
After God had used Assyria to judge Israel, He turned His attention to punishing “the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes” (v. 12).
Consider God’s incredulous sarcasm as He speaks of this king:
“Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!” (v. 15).
God will use any and every leader to accomplish His purposes.
- Our surest bet at changing our nation for good will not happen through marching, but in prayer. Remember what the angel told Daniel:
“Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me” (Dan. 10:12–13, emphasis added)
Did you catch that? His prayer was heard immediately, even though he didn’t see his prayer answered immediately. There were realities taking place that he couldn’t see.
Your prayers could unleash a war in the heavens today. Don’t assume the silence means you haven’t been heard. Keep persevering in prayer—your petition may be being fought over, and it is being used by God to fulfill His eternal purposes.
- God calls us to influence those around us—not through hateful speech and actions but with gentleness and respect. As 1 Peter 3:13–17 says:
Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.
As the following verse points out, our behavior and spirit are patterned after our suffering Savior, who quietly and purposefully laid down His life to bring sinners near to God (1 Peter 3:18).
As followers of Christ, we live in two kingdoms simultaneously: the kingdom of man and the kingdom of God. May we reflect the King of kings in word, action, and spirit as we live as citizens of both kingdoms.
May we nurture peaceful hearts rather than fearful ones.
May we seek to understand first, rather than insisting that we be heard.
May we love instead of hate.
May we open our homes and dinner tables to people who are just like we once were, before we encountered God’s grace (1 Cor. 6:11).
May we pray without ceasing.
And may we point our neighbors and our culture to God’s life-giving ways, seeking their best.
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