The Power We Forgot

A sermon I listened to recently left me with more questions than answers.

It spoke about how evil often attacks what is strategic. In the Garden of Eden, the serpent approached Eve. For years, many have interpreted that story as proof of weakness. But what if that isn't the whole story?

The more I reflected on it, the more I realized that before sin entered the world, the relationship between man and woman was not described as a battlefield. It was a partnership. The struggle for control came later. The desire to dominate and the experience of being dominated were part of the brokenness that followed.

And perhaps that brokenness has shaped human history ever since.

Think about it.

Every human being who has ever walked this earth entered it through a woman. Kings, presidents, warriors, inventors, prophets, and billionaires all began their journey in the womb of a woman.

That is not a small thing.

It is a form of power so ordinary that we often forget how extraordinary it really is.

A woman carries life within her body. She nurtures it, protects it, and brings it into the world. No amount of wealth, technology, or military strength can replace that gift.

For centuries, societies often underestimated women while depending on them for survival. Their influence shaped families, communities, and generations, even when their names were absent from history books.

Yet something has changed.

There was a time when many men defined their worth by their ability to provide, protect, and lead. Physical strength mattered more. Wars were fought face to face. Survival depended heavily on manual labor.

Today, the world looks different.

Women lead nations. Women command armies. Women build companies. Women create wealth. Women pursue education and opportunities that previous generations could only dream of.

The modern woman is no longer limited by many of the barriers that once confined her.

But this transformation raises an uncomfortable question.

If women can provide for themselves, lead organizations, raise children, and build successful lives, where does that leave men?

Some answer that question by saying men are becoming unnecessary.

I disagree.

A man's value was never meant to be measured only by his paycheck, physical strength, or ability to win a war.

Just as a woman is more than her ability to bear children, a man is more than his ability to provide.

The world still needs good fathers. It still needs wisdom, integrity, courage, sacrifice, leadership, emotional strength, and character.

What has changed is not the value of men or women.

What has changed is the expectation that one must depend entirely on the other to survive.

Perhaps the real lesson is this:

The greatest mistake society made was convincing women that they were weak.

And the greatest mistake society is making now is convincing men that they are unnecessary.

Neither is true.

Women possess strengths that men can never replicate.

Men possess strengths that women can never replicate.

Humanity was never designed to thrive through competition between the sexes but through the unique contributions of both.

The question was never whether women are powerful.

They always were.

The question is whether we are wise enough to recognize the power in both men and women without feeling threatened by either.