This morning I read these words of instruction…
Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.
(Titus 2:3-5 ESV)
In this passage, Paul is giving Titus instructions on the church. These are his words of instruction to older women in the church.
In their own behavior, they were instructed to be…reverent, not slanderers, and not slaves to much wine.
Then they were instructed to teach what is good.
And in doing so, they were to train the young women.
Older women were to train the young women to…
…love their husbands and children
…be self-controlled
…be pure
…work at home
…be kind
…be submissive to their husbands.
This training was to occur for a specific purpose and reason…so that the word of God may not be reviled.
There is such a need for this training.
As a young woman I long for an older women to teach and train me in these things.
Young women need this training because, as sinners, these things don’t come naturally.
Yes, we love our husbands and our children, but the everyday loving can be hard.
Being self-controlled and pure takes much effort. Our natures fight against it.
Working at home can be a difficult. Being content while working at home, doing those everyday tasks of caring for the home and making it our place of service is even more difficult.
Being submissive has been a struggle for women since the very first woman ate the forbidden fruit.
I have seen younger women deem themselves to be “older” because there is a lack of older women stepping up to do the task of training that they are instructed to do. But this is not what we are called to do.
Scripture is very clear about these two groups of women…older and young. They are defined by age. No amount of twisting and turning changes that.
As a young woman, a wife and mother with little children, I desperately need to be taught and trained in these things.
It would be arrogant and unwise of me to deny this need.
I am so thankful for the women in my life that have taken time to teach and train me.
I am so thankful for the women that I witness teaching and training other young women like myself.
I am thankful for MOPS mentors within my church, that are stepping up and taking young mothers of preschoolers under their wings. They are taking the call to teach and train seriously.
I am thankful for Sally Clarkson of I Take Joy who has devoted herself to teaching and training.
Her books The Mission of Motherhood, The Ministry of Motherhood, and Educating the Whole-Hearted Child have already taught me much about being a mother.
This morning I learned of her partnership with Sarah Mae, a young woman herself, in writing a book that speaks to our need as young mothers to hear and learn from a older woman who has walked down the road that we are now walking.
If you’re an older woman, how are you teaching and training young women? and If you’re a young woman, is there an older woman in your life that is training you?
If not, is this something that you desire to be a part of?