Even if you’re not from Texas, you’ve probably heard about the woman who is “the voice of Texas women.”  Her name is Wendy Davis, and she made her name by taking a stand (literally) for women’s reproductive rights in the state.  And by women’s reproductive rights, I mean she took a stand for abortion.

I’m not going to get into a political discussion about abortion.  I’m not going to get into a discussion about all that has come out recently about Wendy Davis and her personal life.  I’m not going to get into what I think Texas should do about women’s reproductive rights.

I’m simply going to say this — Wendy Davis is not the voice of this Texas woman.  And I’ll go so far as to say that she’s probably not the voice of a whole lot of other Texas women… especially all those female fetuses out there who may not ever reach voting age because of women’s reproductive rights.

The only reason I mention any of this is because it’s gotten me to thinking about what it means to stand as someone else’s voice.  Wendy Davis likely wholeheartedly believed, as she stood there and spoke in her cute running shoes, that she was speaking on behalf of women like me.  But she got it wrong.  She got it so wrong, in fact, that she was speaking in complete opposition to all that I believe.  She wasn’t speaking for me, even if that was her honest intent.

I’ve been thinking about who I speak on behalf of in my life.  Every Tuesday, I’m blessed with the opportunity to open God’s Word with a great group of ladies whose Bible knowledge and life experience far exceeds mine.  And as we speak to one another and unearth passages from the Word, we speak on behalf of Christ as we share these truths with one another.  There are times when I have to pull back and ask myself, “Am I speaking what Christ would speak?  Or are my words mine, with no real understanding of the heart of Christ?”

Tough question.  And it’s a popular one, believe it or not.  Every Sunday as Wes and I leave the sanctuary, he asks, “Did I handle that text correctly?”  And he did and he does, but I understand why he asks it.  Because being the one who says “thus saith the Lord” is a big responsibility, and as we speak for Christ in sharing the Word of God, we want to be so careful in making sure that our words are His.

I don’t want to be Wendy Davis, speaking erroneously for a group that I don’t know and whose vision I don’t share.  I want to speak for Christ boldly because I know Him and because He has made my vision His…