Again this Sunday, I'm sharing from the Made for Community reading plan from Love God Greatly that I worked on back in 2015. With this study, as I have often done, I used the SOAP method of Bible study. Just a quick reminder that the S is for Scripture, O is for Observation, A is for Application and P is for Prayer. The third section is Made for Community with Family. So here we go with the Scripture for the fifth day of that section.
S= "That they may teach the young women to be sober-minded, to love their husbands, to love their children;
"To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed." (Titus 2:4-5)
O= Paul wrote this letter to Titus, one of his most reliable helpers. C.I. Scofield states that Titus "was used by Paul for tasks requiring responsibility and discretion." At this point, Titus had been placed over the churches in the island of Crete. This letter to Titus from Paul stresses sound doctrine, church order, and sound behavior. Here in these verses Paul is dealing with the responsibilities of older women in the body of Christ. In the previous verse he stated that they are to be "teachers of good things."
Now, in these verses, Paul lists some of the "good things" that the older women are to teach the younger ones:
* to be sober-minded
* to love their husbands
* to love their children
* to be discreet
* to be chaste
* to be keepers at home
* to be good
* to be obedient to their own husbands
And all of this teaching by the older women and resultant exemplary conduct by the younger women is for one very good reason: that the Word of God will not be blasphemed.
A= As I have often told my Sunday School students, each of us is older than someone, either chronologically or spiritually, and so each of us is an "older woman" to someone. I am definitely an older woman, so one of my responsibilities is to be a teacher of good things. I'm to be teaching younger women to be sober-minded, to love their husbands and children, and all of the other topics on that list. There's my curriculum!
I'm still learning, myself, in many of these areas, but I'm expected to be teaching what I know to younger women. It's all for an incredibly important cause: that the Word of God will not be blasphemed by the behavior of His women.
P= "Lord, once again I am struck by the relevance and practicality of Your Word. I am thankful for (and greatly challenged by) these verses from Titus. I pray that You will help me to be a teacher of good things to younger women. I'm aware that I teach by example and it's not only what I say, but how I live and what I do. I pray that these important topics like sober-mindedness, discretion, goodness, home-keeping, etc. would be continual areas of growth in my own life so that I can effectively teach and model them for other women. Help me never to blaspheme Your Word by my behavior in any way! I thank You for all You will do, in Jesus' name, Amen."
Well, there is the study for this week! I was trying to think of helpful information to add that might help us with living out these verses.
I felt led to share this older post called Quiet Time 101.
Without a consistent and quality quiet time with God each day, there will be no living out of His plan. I hope this post encourages you if you read it!
Thank you for sharing these verses. They mean so much to me. When my husband was ordained at a minister and we were also being installed into our first church pastorate, one of the Godly men from our district who came to do the ordination was praying over us both as they all gathered to lay hands on us as we knelt at the altar. And when he prayed for me, he prayed that I would be that "Titus Woman", a "mother" in Christ to all the women in the church, etc. Well, I almost broke out in laughter, because at that time I was about 27 years old, and the majority of the women in our church were all old enough to be my mother or grandmother! I think I heard a few other giggles in the congregation when that dear man prayed that prayer as well. After the service one of the sweet "older" ladies came up to me and gave me a hug and called me "Mom". It was really funny, but also awesome in that I then realized what my true responsibility was going to be as a Pastor's wife. I was a bit scared as I didn't feel full equipped at that time, but God gave me what I needed as I needed it, and as I grew in Christ in my own personal relationship with Him. It was a life changing moment for me.
ReplyDeleteSuch a noble calling...I have been taught by older women and I have done some teaching. I did a lot of praying and asking The Lord to stand in the gap for me. Still do.
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