As a Christian woman, what does Titus 2 mean to you?
I was cleaning out my bookshelf and came across a book that had “graced” my shelf for too many years. I was ready to toss it in my giveaway pile.
But its topic caught my attention. It was Titus 2 (the verse instructing older women to teach younger women to love family and manage their home) and since I’m officially the older woman and a “mom mentor” — I knew this was an important book to read!
And I’m so glad I did.
If you’re not familiar, it says,
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
Susan Hunt’s classic volume, “Spiritual Mothering” gave me an in-depth perspective on what the Bible has to say about my role as the “older woman.”
I’m no longer raising my ten children, (they’re all adults — and most of them are raising their own kids) so I guess it’s time to see myself in a new light!
But one section made me wonder about my qualifications as I embark on this journey.
Here’s the excerpt ⬇️
“Biblical love does not come naturally. Biblical love is produced by the Holy Spirit. We must be taught what this love is and how we are to manifest it in our relationships and conduct.
Paul gives the classic description of Biblical love:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
A reverence for God (the first virtue Paul tells us older women must have) which produces a Biblical view of life is an essential prerequisite for training in love.
Love demands dying to self, and this makes no sense until one has come in reverent submission to the authority of God.
Love means taking enormous risks, and this surely makes no sense unless one has yielded to the sovereignty of God.
So the virtue of reverence is indispensable for both the teacher and the learner in the school of love.
The quality of love should be the identifying mark of the Christian. It is mandatory for our faithful witness.”
A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:34-35
Spiritual Mothering, Susan Hunt, p. 57
What words to ponder as we consider serving others!
- Do I have the kind of reverence for God that He desires? The author says it’s an “essential prerequisite for training in love.”
Her point made me stop in my tracks. Too often, we miss the foundation. Reverance. Devotion to God. We get busy in the “doing” and forget the heart of the matter — giving glory to God. - If love demands dying to self — then am I ready and equipped to serve?
It certainly makes me pray daily for this kind of love! - Am I loving others in the way God requires? From a heart devoted and surrendered to Him?
I believe these questions should fill our minds and hearts as we seek to love the way we’re instructed to love. ➡️ No rules here — just a heart directed to God!
In John 13:34, Jesus says it’s to be the “as I have loved you” kind of love. By experiencing this kind of love, others will know we’re His disciples.
Whew! This is a heart-changing and heart-checking verse if I’ve ever read one!
It’s taken me a while to feel ready and willing for this role of mentor — but God has a way of letting time wait for no one! 😊
Spiritual Mothering made me more passionate about helping women live into God’s unique calling.
So here I am — pondering my place and role as the “older woman,” a Titus 2 mentor to the next generation.
Am I qualified?
Do I measure up to those standards?
And you know what? When we read them as the final call, I think not!
If we have that view, the only path to mentoring is to have “arrived.” And by that standard, none of us would qualify!
“But God.”
I love those two words, don’t you?
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart ‘and my portion forever.”
Psalm 73:26
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8
“But God” so loved the world that He sent Jesus.
Jesus sets the standard of perfect love — yet at the same time, He forgives and accepts us in our deepest needs. In our greatest sin. And He seals his love as we seek and knock and ask.
Remember this ➡️ Seeking — Knocking — Asking aren’t things we do when we’ve arrived somewhere!
These are the actions of a person on a journey, on a quest for something better, something more.
And friends, that’s where I am. And I hope it’s where you are too!
- We seek God’s best — but often not soon enough.
- We love Him — but not always first.
- We knock daily — often after we’ve failed.
- But mostly — we ask Him to show us the way, to forgive our inadequacies, and to teach us how to do this thing called biblical Love.
Won’t you join me on this journey?
Let’s ask, seek, knock — and wait expectantly as we look for the answers. For His answers!
To read more about our family of adult kids, go here.
Learn how gardening can help you become a better parent here.
Leave a Reply