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Alexander Ramsay Batchelor (1891-1955) was a (married) Southern Presbyterian with a deep, abiding concern for African-Americans. He authored Jacob’s Ladder: Negro Work of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (1953) — available at our Secondary Sources page — which gives an account of home missions by the Southern Presbyterian Church directed towards the African-American community. This work he dedicated both to his wife and to the African-American ministers of his denomination with whom he co-labored “in Christ, in whom is no color line.” It also contains devotionals, one of which — concerning women — is given here today for our prayerful consideration.
Far Above Rubies
Read Proverbs 31:10-31
“Greet Priscilla and Aquilla, my helpers in Christ Jesus.” — Romans 16:3.
Women, like men, have great potentialities for good or evil. The Bible abounds in examples of women who were devout servants of God and helpers in every good cause.
In the New Testament, Paul repeatedly commends them as “helpers in Jesus Christ,” “servants of the church,” and as having bestowed “much labour” and provided succour to God’s servants. In the Old Testament, the value of a good woman is declared as being “far above rubies.”
In the New Testament account of the life of Christ and the growth of His Church, women were:
Last at the cross — Mark 15:47
First at the tomb — John 20:1
First to proclaim the resurrection - Matthew 28:8
First to preach to the Jews — Luke 2:37,38
In attendance at the first prayer meeting — Acts 1:14
First to greet Christian missionaries in Europe — Acts 16:13
First European convert — Acts 16:14
Back of most men of God is a godly mother. Billy Sunday used to say, “The first time the Devil turned pale was when mother’s love came into the heart of a woman.” Someone else has said, “If you save a man, you save an individual. If you save a woman, you will probably save a home.” No thoughtful person has ever underestimated the power of a consecrated woman. Her value is "far above rubies.”
