Breaking Down Barriers – a Galatians 3 Story
Samantha had always been taught that she was inferior to men. As a child, she was told that girls should be seen and not heard. As a teenager, she was told that her worth was determined by her looks and how well she could cook and clean. As an adult, she was told that her only purpose in life was to get married and have children.
But Samantha refused to accept this. She knew that there was more to life than just being a wife and a mother. She wanted to be a lawyer, to fight for justice and equality. So, she enrolled in law school, determined to break down the barriers that society had placed in front of her.
At first, Samantha struggled. She was the only woman in her class, and the men often made fun of her and belittled her. But she refused to give up. She studied harder than anyone else, and she worked tirelessly to prove herself.
Slowly but surely, Samantha began to make progress. She started to earn top grades in her class, and she even won a prestigious scholarship. But despite her success, she still felt like an outsider. The men in her class still refused to accept her as an equal.
That all changed one day when a new student, named David, joined the class. David was different than the other men in the class. He was kind, compassionate, and treated Samantha as an equal. They quickly became friends, studying together and supporting each other through the challenges of law school.
One day, Samantha and David were discussing their faith, and Samantha told David about how she had always felt inferior because of her gender. David listened intently, and then he shared with her a passage from Galatians 3. He told her that in Christ, there is no male or female, no Jew or Gentile, no slave or free. We are all one in Christ Jesus.
Samantha was stunned. She had never heard anything like that before. She realized that she had been trying to break down the barriers on her own, but that there was a greater power at work. She started to see herself and David as equals, and she began to see the other men in her class in a different light as well.
Over time, Samantha’s class started to change. The men started to treat her with more respect, and they even started to ask for her help with their studies. And Samantha began to see that she was not alone in her desire to break down barriers. She was part of a larger community of people who were all striving for the same goal.
When Samantha graduated from law school, she felt a sense of pride and accomplishment that she had never felt before. She knew that she had broken down barriers that had been in place for generations, and that she had opened doors for other women to follow in her footsteps. And she knew that she had done it all with the help of her faith and the words of Galatians 3.
"There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." – Galatians 3:28