Taken from Biblical Womanhood in the Home Read Chapter 11 (Older Women Mentoring Younger Women) from Biblical Womanhood in the Home
You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine . . . teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.—TITUS 2:1, 3-5
This mandate is electrifying!...
This was not a new concept. Throughout the Old Testament we are told that one generation is to tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord. In Titus 2, that characteristic of covenant life is simply made gender-specific. This fundamental quality of the culture of covenant life transcends time, geography, life-season, and life-circumstance.
Everywhere I go I meet young women who long for spiritual mothers. Some express a sense of loneliness, and yet they do not even realize that the disconnection they feel is because they do not have nurturing relationships with older women. Our postmodern age is characterized by isolation. The feminist movement made many promises, but the push for independence and autonomy has left women confused and alone. This is our opportunity. The time is ripe. Women are seeking answers. It is time for Christian women to step into this vacuum and show and tell the truth about womanhood.
But where are the older women?...
I plead with the church to call and equip women for this ministry. God is gifting His church with incredible young women. They are a sacred trust. We must be good stewards of this gift. Many are first-generation Christians. Many are separated from their extended families because of the mobility of our society. We must exemplify the faith to them, and we must teach them how to show and tell the truths of biblical womanhood to the next generation. The implications of whether we accept or abandon this calling will reverberate for generations to come...
Our relationship with the Lord is personal, but it is not individualistic. When He adopts us into His family, our relationship with Him means that we are also related to His other children. And our relationships with one another are to mirror our Father’s relationship with us...
How does Christ accept us? Not on the basis of our performance, but on the basis of His grace...
We are to accept, love, and care for one another on the same term by which God accepts us—grace. The covenant way is not a way of isolation and independence.
When Cain killed his brother Abel, the Lord asked him, “‘Where is your brother Abel?’ ‘I don’t know,’ he replied. ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’” (Gen. 4:9). He was unaware that the answer to that question is yes. Living covenantally means that we are our brother’s and sister’s keeper. Women nurturing women is simply one way we live covenantally. It is as much a part of covenant life as gathering at the Lord’s Table to remember Jesus’ death until He comes again.
It is not optional. This gospel imperative is one way we express our Lord’s command to love Him with all our heart, soul, and mind and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves (Matt. 22:37-39).
1 comment:
Older women need to remember that we are to step into this role. Sometimes we forget because our homes take over, plus we never want to inject ourselves into the lives of young women (or anyone else for that matter). Thanks for the reminder that young women WANT to be mentored.
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