“Older women, teach the younger women to be good” (Titus 2:5). So far we’ve looked at the goodness of God, the goodness of internal character, the good works that should flow out of good character, and the goodness Christ calls us to display in suffering. As an extension of all of those, let’s consider an example from David’s life. My thoughts were led in that direction from Psalm 122, one of the “Songs of Ascent,” which I was memorizing last month. We are told specifically t

Older women are to be teachers of good things, and one of the things they are to teach younger women is to be good . In the third blog on goodness, I shared how Paul clearly teaches in the book of Titus that goodness and good works flow out of sound doctrine. The grace of God found in the Gospel teaches us to be good from the inside out. It cleanses us from evil and fills us with the goodness of God in both character and action. Throughout the book of I Peter, Peter reiterat

When the Bible speaks of goodness, it is often in relation to good works. I will never forget the time when I was studying the book of Titus, which is where older women are instructed to teach younger women to be good. I started the study because the book had seemed to me to be such a hodgepodge of random topics. I couldn’t see how the book all tied together. I spent over two weeks reading through the book everyday over and over, praying that God would help me understand it a

There is, of course, much more to the word good than the goodness of God displayed in creation. Goodness is full-orbed and many-dimensional. Like all the characteristics of God, it is holistic. When God instructs us to be good, He is first of all calling us to the goodness of character. As we saw in the last blog, God’s essential nature is good. He never calls us to something other than what He Himself is, for His goal in redemption is to conform us to His very own image. He

Older women, teach the younger women to be good (Titus 2:5). For me, as I thought through the list of seven things older women are to teach younger women, this word good seemed so common, so nondescript. I didn’t really know what exactly we were to teach. But a deeper study has opened up a treasure trove of specific and practical applications for us as women to inculcate (“to cause to become filled or saturated with a certain quality or principle” Merriam-Webster) into our l

Shortly after my husband died, I read a book on widowhood by Joyce Rogers. One sentence in her introduction caught me up short and...

I wrote previously (April 2, 2019) that "keepers at home" can also be translated "workers at home." The word keeping carries the...

As women who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, God calls us to the most important task of being a keeper (guardian) and worker at...

The fifth life practicum older women are to teach younger women is to be "homemakers." That's how the NKJV translates the compound Greek...

Becoming chaste women of God has two sides: a turning to and a turning away from. We turn our faces, our lives, our focus toward the face...

This fourth blog on what it means to be chaste has been a while in coming due to two weeks of unexpected travel, but at last I'm getting...

Probably the most common understanding of chastity is "sexually pure." I had primarily connected this definition with virginity, and it...

After taking most of December off to get other writing done, I am returning again to Titus 2 and the study of the word chaste. My first...

The fourth quality that should characterize us as women of God, which older women are to teach younger women, is chastity. When I first...

Throughout this month we have looked at the word discreet through several different lenses. The first Titus 2 blog in November looked at...

Last week, in attempting to dig deeper into the meaning of discreet, I wrote about being circumspect and tactful. The Webster's New...

The nuances included in the word discreet are many. As I wrote last week, the word discreet is loaded with meaning. It is a very...

As this is the first Wednesday of a new month, I am going to move on to the next topic in Titus 2 that older women are instructed to...

Before having children and even when our babies are small, most of us think phileo love comes naturally. And in many ways it does....

One of the most loving things we can do for our children is to teach them to work. Life is primarily made up of work. Our human nature...