Our sermon on Mothers Day Sunday was a look at “the perfect wife” (Prov. 31). Many a woman holds this passage up as an ideal to strive for. And many women who strive for this lofty goal may actually come away feeling totally inadequate, realizing that they themselves will never fully measure up. Will anyone ever be able to do enough when trying to measure up to personal perfection?

This may be news to some, but the woman described as “the perfect wife” in Proverbs 31 didn’t actually exist. This explains the intro “a wife of noble character who can find?” When read allegorically however, this proverb could certainly be seen as Wisdom personified (see also Proverbs 4, 8, 9), as the writer portrays “her” using a series of human traits. The ideal, or perfection in wifely form, comes into view. Although unattainable, the idea of perfection as a role model isn’t necessarily a bad thing. After all, Peter holds Jesus up as someone to emulate (1 Pet. 2:21).

However, I am pretty sure the Proverbs 31 wife was not intended solely (or even mainly) to be a standard for individual excellence when the proverb was God-breathed. Taken another way, “the perfect wife” could be seen as the Bride of Christ successfully performing her duties on earth, as Pastor Mark pointed out. She (the Church) would never bring shame to her Husband, she would be industrious, compassionate toward the poor and the needy, capable in financial affairs, highly skilled, never tiring, clothed with strength and dignity, etc. etc. etc. When we read the proverb this way, instead of coming face to face with the Mt Everest of personal perfection, each of us is motivated to do our own individual part toward the overall accomplishment of the duties of Jesus’ bride, and the glory for success undisputedly goes to God as the Church (Bride) collectively does what only the Holy Spirit could enable her to do. This is in contrast to individual success, which often brings glory to the individual.

Can we the Church live up to this example? Well…. of course not, it is the ideal after all! But that doesn’t mean we can’t try!! To me, this gives us a great mark to strive for, hopefully we don’t ever become complacent and decide to settle for anything less than a “perfect wife”!