When a woman becomes a mother, life changes, but you know what? She still has the same heart that she was born with; it’s that sinful one that needed redemption! It’s for that reason that God gives instruction that the older women are to teach the young women to love their children! It’s not always easy to love that child who asks a million questions (and that’s just before lunch!), the one who destroys her well-kept home, or the one who speaks disrespectfully and acts unappreciative of her sacrifices.
Love is tested, therefore, love needs to be taught.
Isn’t it a comfort to know that God cares about what happens in our houses? He created the family, and He has a plan for how we care for this ministry! Listen what He specifically says about the home in the Titus 2 passage…
That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home,
I love how the KJV translates it; as “keepers at home.” This is a woman who is devoted to her home, who has a heart for it. She’s actively engaged and makes it a high priority in her life.
But all too often, home is a place where we come in to get ready to go out to the next event. Not much is really happening at home. There’s little investment in one another’s lives. Rather than it being the hub of life, it is too often just the spare tire.
In her book, Adorned, Nancy reminds us that teaching young women God’s Word includes teaching them that working at home is in the core curriculum.
When I talk to women and they lament and say they “are only a homemaker” I always say, “That is a high calling!” There’s no shame in being in the home so that you can make it your priority. But there’s also no need to feel ashamed that you work outside the home. Sometimes it is necessary. You may have to be more creative in how you make time for caring for the needs and the people in your home, but with the Lord’s help and wisdom, you can still be a keeper at home.
When my oldest daughter was four, we were so strapped financially. Then a teaching opportunity was opened to me and it seemed like this would be the best way to help our situation. However, the added stress it brought hardly justified my time away from our home! Those are nine months that taught me that my heart was in my home and that is where I belonged.
Later I had another time in my life when extra funds were needed because we had one daughter in college! Do you feel my pain?! I wasn’t free to go out and look for part time job, because the other daughter was in homeschool, and I also remembered the hard lesson I had learned years before.
I prayed about it and the Lord brought to my mind a way I could work from home and bring in a little extra income. I began a home-baking business. While my daughter did her school work, I baked. One day a week, I took my goods and sold them at the local banks, hair salons and medical offices. God provided and I got to stay where my heart was – at home.
If your finances are tight, I’d encourage you to pray and ask God for the best way to prioritize your home. There are lots of creative ways to earn money from home!
I’m reminded that it isn’t just young women who are needed to be keepers at home. Nancy says in her book,
No matter what our circumstances or season of life, home still matters for us women. And we will diminish the impact of our ministry as believers if we allow home to become an afterthought or resist God’s call to be workers/keepers at home.
I think it’s easy for us to brush aside the truth that our ministry impact is affected if our home is an afterthought. How can we use our homes to adorn the Gospel if we’re not watching over it? It’s doubtful that we will.
So if we’re keepers at home, what are we to “keep?”
Our heartfor the Person of Christ. Make sure He is at the center of every part of our home. Honor Him in your choices of your time, your free time, the way you use your finances, your relationships, people you encounter at the store, etc.
Our heart for the purpose of the home – to display the Gospel. Live out the Gospel as you love, forgive, show mercy and kindness. Apply that sound Doctrine to every area of family life. Share the Gospel with your children. Open your home to share the Gospel with any that enter your doors.
Our priority for the people of our home – Husband, children, those outside the home
Time with our husband
Pouring into our children
Reaching out with the Gospel to others
Our heart for the plans for accomplishing the necessary tasks
Meals are prepared – Groceries purchased
The home is clean and inviting (not necessarily Pinterest worthy, but managed and clean)
Finances – wisely using what God has provided
If this sounds like a lot…or maybe just too much, let me remind you that you have help in doing all of this! It isn’t Merry Maids or your 7 children or your husband, (though the people there can certainly be helpers), but it’s the third person of the Godhead – the Holy Spirit of God.
We have a Savior Who is preparing a home for us, and He is able to help you and me to make our homes a place that will comfort those who live there and point each one to the Gospel!
Do you have a heart for your home? With what areas do you need help in being a “Keeper at home?” Ask the Lord these questions and then watch how He directs, how He changes your desires, and how He brings in wisdom to help you be the Keeper of your home.
Here are afewposts about homemaking that might encourage you.
If you’ve ever watched one of those television reality shows about hoarders, you will remember seeing pictures of homes overflowing with stuff.
I want you to consider whether or not you’re a hoarder. Don’t look in your house…look in your mind and your heart. I’m referencing being a hoarder of all the biblical knowledge that you have acquired over the time of your walk with God.
If you’ve been saved for more than a couple of years, consider how many sermons you’ve heard, how may biblical podcasts you’ve listened to, how many revival meetings or conferences you’ve attended and how many Bible studies you’ve completed.
Is your heart full of wonderful truth? I can say, “Yes!” What a blessing has been given to so many of us. But what are we doing with that knowledge? Are we, like the hoarders in those reality shows, stuffing it away, piling it up higher and higher, or are we taking what we have and spreading that wealth with others?
Our Titus 2 passage that we are studying admonishes us, The older women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things…
We are to teach that which is good.
You might be tempted to shake your head and say, “Not me! I’m not good enough.” We must remember that we are not pointing to ourselves and our goodness when we disciple or mentor a younger woman. If we point to ourselves as the example, that would be to fail, but we are to point her to the Only One Who is good. We must point her to our Savior, the Lord Jesus!
When I look at all the evil that is going on in our world today, I marvel at the blessing that is ours to carry out this mandate here in Titus! This teaching is to be what is good – and the phrase in the Greek is related to the word we talked about in an earlier lesson – Sophron, meaning sound mind. It means to make of a sound mind; to instruct or train someone to behave wisely and properly. Again, this teaching of good comes not from ourselves, but from our good God! Psalm 100:4 For the Lord is good, His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations.
Ladies, we have the blessed privilege to give a younger woman the Truth that we have been taught. As we open God’s Word and simply share with her how to apply this truth to her life, we will know the inexpressible joy of this ministry that is gender specific – women teaching women, life on life. Oh, how we need each other in this world that is upside down. What hope we have to offer! What joy! What peace!
Simply be open to the possibilities!
Open your heart to another woman.
Open your home and invite her in.
Open your Bible and share what you’ve learned.
Open your prayers and include her.
To younger women Nancy asks,
How willing are you to seek out and receive the involvement of older women in your life?
Do you have a teachable spirit?
Do you leave the impression that you can figure life out on your own?
Younger woman, take the initiative. If no one has reached out to you, seek out an older woman who seems to possess the qualities you’d like to embody one day. Ask if she’d be open to visit with you on occasion, answering questions and allowing you to learn from her experiences and together form God’s Word.
May we each be willing to step up and speak up so a younger woman can grow up!
RefreshHer 