Reflections on Proverbs 31 and Titus 2
About a month ago, Don Tebay informed me that my name had made it into the Austin Daily Herald. It was Mower County Attorney Pat Flanagan’s interview, but he mentioned my name because I used to work in the Prosecutor’s Office. After reading the article, Mark asked me if I felt like going back to work. I smiled. I didn’t answer right away. There are days… But after a good night’s sleep and a good cup of coffee served in bed by a doting husband, I can say unequivocally that I have no desire to go back to work until my children and my husband no longer require my complete and untiring attention. Could be decades!
As a devoted Stay-at-Home-Mom, wife and previously career driven woman, I do wonder how many women really realize what a great service they are providing for society and for God’s Kingdom when they choose to follow this quest and become a homemaker - ministering to and serving their family? Mothers and wives build something far more lasting than just a home when they devote their lives to homemaking. They leave a legacy, not just to their children and to their grandchildren, but to society. No professional career in the world combines so uniquely both common menial daily tasks and meaningful, yet eternal opportunities. It’s a blessed, God ordained career. Even mothers and wives who work outside the home have a Biblical mandate to fulfill their responsibility as a good homemaker. This is Our Highest Calling.
Proverbs 31 contains a full-length portrait of what a godly woman looks like. The emphasis seems to be on those characteristics that God values most in women. He uses certain precious words to describe His idea of what the ideal woman looks like: a committed homemaker, chaste, a helpmate, an upright and God-fearing woman of strength. I think most women want and sincerely desire to be a woman of strength who enjoys dignity and importance in the administrative affairs of their home. They want and desire to be a valuable helpmate to their husbands and a complement to him that others take note of... "Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land." (Proverbs 31:23) But the Proverbs passage still intimidates some of us. It’s a lot to live up to. What we desire in our lives isn’t always easy to attain. And if we flip forward in our Bible to the New Testament, we find even more emphasis on what a godly woman's resume looks like, and how she goes about managing her household. (Titus 2:5 and 1 Timothy 2:10, 5:14) Intimidated yet? Here’s the secret: In Titus 2:3-5, Paul admonishes the older women to teach the younger women, among other things, "to love their husbands and children, . . . to be busy at home". (Interestingly, the Greek word is oikourgous, which literally means "home-workers"). So, is this the key? Being taught how to be an esteemed God-fearing woman of strength? Who’s teaching you? Or whom are you teaching?
Creating a newsletter page devoted exclusively to women was not something I had really planned. But several months ago – even before Mark accepted the call to serve Crane Chapel -- he bought a book for me entitled Becoming A Titus 2 Woman. At the time, I would not have exactly considered myself an “older woman.” Sadly, I guess Mark did! But over the last few months as I’ve been reading the book again, it occurred to me that every Christian woman regardless of age or marital status should aspire to become a Titus 2 Woman. It also seems that most churches today are woefully lacking in the training of these ladies. Sure, there are organized women’s functions, but there really isn’t much discipling going on as required in Titus 2. I certainly won’t pretend to be a master disciple’er or have all the answers, but this new page is a ministry devoted to women and their God-ordained roles – which is Our Highest Calling. Whether you are raising children or not… whether you’re married or not, we’ll look at both the spiritual and the mundane – from Christian doctrine to character to submission to ministry and from housekeeping to recipes to jokes to romance.
I am learning that as a pastor’s wife, my role is undefined and plentiful. As a mother, my task is noble and never-ending. But as a woman, my ministry is based on Titus 2:3-5. I hope you’ll join me as I set my sights on that “older woman” role that – sadly -- my (much-older) husband thinks I may have already attained.
As a devoted Stay-at-Home-Mom, wife and previously career driven woman, I do wonder how many women really realize what a great service they are providing for society and for God’s Kingdom when they choose to follow this quest and become a homemaker - ministering to and serving their family? Mothers and wives build something far more lasting than just a home when they devote their lives to homemaking. They leave a legacy, not just to their children and to their grandchildren, but to society. No professional career in the world combines so uniquely both common menial daily tasks and meaningful, yet eternal opportunities. It’s a blessed, God ordained career. Even mothers and wives who work outside the home have a Biblical mandate to fulfill their responsibility as a good homemaker. This is Our Highest Calling.
Proverbs 31 contains a full-length portrait of what a godly woman looks like. The emphasis seems to be on those characteristics that God values most in women. He uses certain precious words to describe His idea of what the ideal woman looks like: a committed homemaker, chaste, a helpmate, an upright and God-fearing woman of strength. I think most women want and sincerely desire to be a woman of strength who enjoys dignity and importance in the administrative affairs of their home. They want and desire to be a valuable helpmate to their husbands and a complement to him that others take note of... "Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land." (Proverbs 31:23) But the Proverbs passage still intimidates some of us. It’s a lot to live up to. What we desire in our lives isn’t always easy to attain. And if we flip forward in our Bible to the New Testament, we find even more emphasis on what a godly woman's resume looks like, and how she goes about managing her household. (Titus 2:5 and 1 Timothy 2:10, 5:14) Intimidated yet? Here’s the secret: In Titus 2:3-5, Paul admonishes the older women to teach the younger women, among other things, "to love their husbands and children, . . . to be busy at home". (Interestingly, the Greek word is oikourgous, which literally means "home-workers"). So, is this the key? Being taught how to be an esteemed God-fearing woman of strength? Who’s teaching you? Or whom are you teaching?
Creating a newsletter page devoted exclusively to women was not something I had really planned. But several months ago – even before Mark accepted the call to serve Crane Chapel -- he bought a book for me entitled Becoming A Titus 2 Woman. At the time, I would not have exactly considered myself an “older woman.” Sadly, I guess Mark did! But over the last few months as I’ve been reading the book again, it occurred to me that every Christian woman regardless of age or marital status should aspire to become a Titus 2 Woman. It also seems that most churches today are woefully lacking in the training of these ladies. Sure, there are organized women’s functions, but there really isn’t much discipling going on as required in Titus 2. I certainly won’t pretend to be a master disciple’er or have all the answers, but this new page is a ministry devoted to women and their God-ordained roles – which is Our Highest Calling. Whether you are raising children or not… whether you’re married or not, we’ll look at both the spiritual and the mundane – from Christian doctrine to character to submission to ministry and from housekeeping to recipes to jokes to romance.
I am learning that as a pastor’s wife, my role is undefined and plentiful. As a mother, my task is noble and never-ending. But as a woman, my ministry is based on Titus 2:3-5. I hope you’ll join me as I set my sights on that “older woman” role that – sadly -- my (much-older) husband thinks I may have already attained.
- Esthermay Bentley-Goossen
(This article originally appeared in Windows - The monthly church-news & ministry newsletter of Crane Community Chapel.)
1 comment:
Hello. I just wanted to let you know I (also a PW) came across your blog and have enjoyed what you have written thus far. I look forward to visiting again.
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