Aged Women Teach
“The aged women…may teach the young women to be sober, 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 2:3-5
In looking at these verses again, I want to focus on the phrase “teach the young women to be sober.” In my studies, I found that the first phrase, “teach…to be sober,” is actually all one word in the Greek text. It implies to teach women to be of sound judgment and prudence, suggesting self-restraint and discretion. The root of the word actually comes from the word “wisdom”.
This prompted me to ask the question, are young mothers and wives today wise in the Scriptural sense of the word? Sad to say, I don’t believe this is the case in most homes. A wife who is always looking for something “more interesting” than just loving and serving her husband and family probably is not exercising Godly wisdom. A wife who really “doesn’t care” what her husband thinks about her appearance, things she does, or the places she goes, does not fall into this category either. And yet, these an other negative attitudes and behavior patterns are all too common in the average home – yes, in Christian homes as well.
A Godly wife and mother should want to exercise wisdom in the home in every area of conduct, whether it be in carrying out mundane tasks, such as what to fix for meals, how to best wash clothes for her family, nursing a sick child or husband, or in spiritual matters of ministering to her husband when he is discouraged, or helping a child to understand why he/she should choose the right friends.
This brings us to the question, “Where do we get such wisdom?” I am reminded of the familiar verse in James 1:5, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and IT SHALL BE GIVEN HIM.” This is a promise from God!
It is interesting, and yes, concerning, to listen to many young wives and mothers as they share new concepts in dealing with their husbands, children, homemaking, and more, that they have learned from the internet, TV, newspapers, magazines, or talking with friends. They accept these “worldly” principles as wise counsel, without ever checking them out with the Word of God. I am not suggesting that God cannot use human instruments to direct our thoughts in the right way. But we need to be careful to look to HIM for our wisdom! Proverbs 13:20 reads, “He the walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” We should really choose our friends wisely in seeking advice.
There are many passages of Scripture that deal with wisdom! In fact, the entire book of Proverbs deals with this enormous topic. “A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels.” (Proverbs 1:5) So there is much to learn about wisdom in every area of our lives!
I can remember many times over the past 54 years of marriage praying for wisdom for dealing with problems that arose in our home. Many times the Lord directed my attention to specific passages of Scripture to help me deal with a situation. I would make a decision after praying for wisdom and searching Scripture, not even knowing for sure if it was the “wisest” thing to do, but having a confidence that I was doing right. It may have been sometime later, in looking back, that I could tell that the decision was a wise one. How did I know the right thing to do? I KNOW that God gave the wisdom in answer to my plea, even though I was somewhat unsure at the time.
Incidentally, this passage in Titus speaks of “young women”, not just married women. I truly believe our young girls need to be taught to pray for this wisdom! How else are they going to know what God wants them to do in the future, or who is the best choice for a husband. This is such an enormous step in a young woman’s life, and there definitely needs to be wisdom in dealing with young men, as well as pertinent issues of our day and culture. This is where mothers have a great responsibility to teach their daughters what qualities to look for in a husband. Or perhaps a mother can guide her children to the best source of higher education, instructing them to follow the Lord’s direction first and foremost!
I truly believe that if Christian ladies would seek the Lord for wisdom in every area of their lives - their marriage, their children, finances, involvement in the local church, work outside the home - God would change many homes and lives for His glory.
“Seek ye FIRST the kingdom of God and HIS righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33