I am taking a two weeks off to spend vacation time with my family. I hope you all have a wonderful two weeks and I can't wait to talk to you all again soon!
God bless!
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Teachers of Good Things
“not given to much wine, teachers of good things;”
There are so many forms of addictions today that sometimes I think we are immune to what it really means to be an addict. The word translated here as ‘given’ means to place yourself in bondage to something or to be dependent on something, which is what an addict is; a slave to their addiction. In Matthew, Jesus says that no man can serve two masters, one he will love, the other he will hate. (Matthew 6:24) We cannot be serving the Lord and something else, anything else. The verse says wine but think for a moment of all the things that we put ourselves in bondage too. Anything that we are dependent on, outside of God, is bondage. Now, am I saying that by staying at home and letting your husband provide for you, that you are in bondage? Ask yourself this question; why do I stay home and serve my husband? Is it because you are lazy and this is an easy way to get what you want? If so, then maybe you are serving something other than God. But if you are staying home because God’s plan for women is to care for our husbands and children, and that by doing those things, we are acting out our service to God so that it is not lip service but practical service, then we are not in bondage to any but Christ. The root word that ‘given’ comes from is the same word that Paul used to describe himself as he relates to Christ. (ex. Titus 1:1) We are servants of Christ; let us not be named as a servant of anyone or anything else.
The word for ‘teacher of good things’ is a composite of two words, one meaning good things and the other meaning teacher, I know, I know, seems so easy. To be a teacher of good things means teaching the things of the Lord. Not worldly-wise things or whatever fad is hip today, but the time-honored and tested wisdom from God’s word. Here is short list of what good things look like; “good, excellent in its nature and characteristics, and therefore well adapted to its ends, genuine, approved, precious, competent, able, such as one ought to be, praiseworthy, noble, beautiful by reason of purity of heart and life, and hence praiseworthy, morally good, noble, honorable, conferring honor, affecting the mind agreeably, comforting and confirming.” This is quite a list of what good things one can teach. And this is teaching is not just by words. These are things that we must show by our actions daily. Most of the times that the word teacher used here appears, it is referring to Jesus. Jesus did not say one thing and live something else. For three years, He daily practiced what He was preaching so we could see just what it looked like practically. And just as He is our example of all things good, so we need to strive to exemplify His goodness to others. We cannot teach goodness and live anything else.
So as you head out today, wherever you go, teach, in word and in deed, what is good and keep yourself from needless bondage. We are set free to serve the Lord and His yoke is easy and His burden light. Because He has freed us, we can now deny ourselves and pick up our crosses daily and follow Him wholeheartedly! Amen!
There are so many forms of addictions today that sometimes I think we are immune to what it really means to be an addict. The word translated here as ‘given’ means to place yourself in bondage to something or to be dependent on something, which is what an addict is; a slave to their addiction. In Matthew, Jesus says that no man can serve two masters, one he will love, the other he will hate. (Matthew 6:24) We cannot be serving the Lord and something else, anything else. The verse says wine but think for a moment of all the things that we put ourselves in bondage too. Anything that we are dependent on, outside of God, is bondage. Now, am I saying that by staying at home and letting your husband provide for you, that you are in bondage? Ask yourself this question; why do I stay home and serve my husband? Is it because you are lazy and this is an easy way to get what you want? If so, then maybe you are serving something other than God. But if you are staying home because God’s plan for women is to care for our husbands and children, and that by doing those things, we are acting out our service to God so that it is not lip service but practical service, then we are not in bondage to any but Christ. The root word that ‘given’ comes from is the same word that Paul used to describe himself as he relates to Christ. (ex. Titus 1:1) We are servants of Christ; let us not be named as a servant of anyone or anything else.
The word for ‘teacher of good things’ is a composite of two words, one meaning good things and the other meaning teacher, I know, I know, seems so easy. To be a teacher of good things means teaching the things of the Lord. Not worldly-wise things or whatever fad is hip today, but the time-honored and tested wisdom from God’s word. Here is short list of what good things look like; “good, excellent in its nature and characteristics, and therefore well adapted to its ends, genuine, approved, precious, competent, able, such as one ought to be, praiseworthy, noble, beautiful by reason of purity of heart and life, and hence praiseworthy, morally good, noble, honorable, conferring honor, affecting the mind agreeably, comforting and confirming.” This is quite a list of what good things one can teach. And this is teaching is not just by words. These are things that we must show by our actions daily. Most of the times that the word teacher used here appears, it is referring to Jesus. Jesus did not say one thing and live something else. For three years, He daily practiced what He was preaching so we could see just what it looked like practically. And just as He is our example of all things good, so we need to strive to exemplify His goodness to others. We cannot teach goodness and live anything else.
So as you head out today, wherever you go, teach, in word and in deed, what is good and keep yourself from needless bondage. We are set free to serve the Lord and His yoke is easy and His burden light. Because He has freed us, we can now deny ourselves and pick up our crosses daily and follow Him wholeheartedly! Amen!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
As Becomes Holiness
“that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers,”
Most of us know Titus 2 as the chapter where women are told what they should be as wives and mothers. But all of this starts with a hierarchy of sorts. First we are told what an aged woman (literally, an old woman) should look like and then that it is the older women’s responsibility to teach the younger how to become that older woman someday. Today we will start to take a closer look at what an aged woman of God should look like.
The first thing we are told is that they should “be in behavior as becomes holiness”. What that means is, they should have a position that suits sacred things or conduct themselves with reverent attitude. How many older women do you know who spend their time trying to be young or cool or hip in the eyes of the world? They spend time removing wrinkles and grey hair hoping for that person in the grocery store or at church to be shocked that they look so young. No one likes looking older; at least once you are past about 25. But it is a hundred times worse that no one wants to act their age. It just isn’t cool anymore to talk about the things of God. People are shocked by stories of yesteryear where families were not allowed to read anything but the Bible on Sundays and they were supposed to think about sacred things only. Now we go to church and as soon as the service is finished, we find any number of topics to discuss, 99% of them having nothing to do with sacred things. We think we have done our duty because we sat and listened to the pastor talk for 45 minutes. We do not believe in a lifestyle of Godly living. No longer do we read the Bible and pray together as families. No longer do we dwell on sacred things, on Sunday or any other day. Now, here is what I am not saying. It is not a sin to wear make-up or to dye your hair, or to talk about sports on Sunday. But why are we doing those things? Is it because we have done our duty and now we can have fun? Is it because we just can’t think of anything more to say about the Lord? We must evaluate our hearts and see just what is there. We should be more concerned with things that last, with things that are eternal, than the petty things we waste our time on.
The big question is what is so wrong in our minds about looking or behaving in a manner befitting our age and position. There should be a distinction in both manner and appearance of someone who is 50 and someone who is 20. Just as it is against nature for an older woman to look 30, so it is also unseemly for them to behave like 30. That is no excuse for a young woman to be silly or frivolous. But we do learn by example and there should be someone we can look to, to show us what a Godly woman looks and behaves like.
The next thing we see is that an older woman should not be a false accuser. There are two points that stood out to me here. One is something we all know. Satan is the accuser of the brethren. And he does a fine job without our help. As women of God, we should have no part in that. The definition of false accuser in the Word Study dictionary says, “One who falsely accuses and divides people without any reason.” We must be so very careful not to divide the body. Anything that causes a division of the true body of Christ is not the action of a true believer. This, however, brings me to my second point. If there is a problem, we supposed to deal with it. If there is a sin besetting us or someone else, we as believers are supposed to be divided from sin. Part of teaching is correction. You can’t be a good teacher if you don’t correct your student’s mistakes. But there is a proper way to do that. It must be done in kindness, in love, using the word to show where the error is. And most importantly it must be done in private, meaning that it is not done through gossip or backbiting. One of the other aspects of teaching is that there must be trust between the teacher and the student. Where there is gossip being spread by a teacher, there can be no trust. We must guard our words so carefully to keep from betraying each other.
So I would ask you, dear ladies, where are our hearts? Are there areas where we are not exhibiting what becomes holiness? Are there times we are falsely accusing others? These are things that shouldn’t be named as characteristics of a Godly woman, of any age. Why do we do the things we do? Should we be doing them? Or is there a way we could be redeeming our time to better serve the Lord, our families and the body of Christ? May God show us how we can better serve Him and may we see it blessing those around us by spurring them on to holiness.
Most of us know Titus 2 as the chapter where women are told what they should be as wives and mothers. But all of this starts with a hierarchy of sorts. First we are told what an aged woman (literally, an old woman) should look like and then that it is the older women’s responsibility to teach the younger how to become that older woman someday. Today we will start to take a closer look at what an aged woman of God should look like.
The first thing we are told is that they should “be in behavior as becomes holiness”. What that means is, they should have a position that suits sacred things or conduct themselves with reverent attitude. How many older women do you know who spend their time trying to be young or cool or hip in the eyes of the world? They spend time removing wrinkles and grey hair hoping for that person in the grocery store or at church to be shocked that they look so young. No one likes looking older; at least once you are past about 25. But it is a hundred times worse that no one wants to act their age. It just isn’t cool anymore to talk about the things of God. People are shocked by stories of yesteryear where families were not allowed to read anything but the Bible on Sundays and they were supposed to think about sacred things only. Now we go to church and as soon as the service is finished, we find any number of topics to discuss, 99% of them having nothing to do with sacred things. We think we have done our duty because we sat and listened to the pastor talk for 45 minutes. We do not believe in a lifestyle of Godly living. No longer do we read the Bible and pray together as families. No longer do we dwell on sacred things, on Sunday or any other day. Now, here is what I am not saying. It is not a sin to wear make-up or to dye your hair, or to talk about sports on Sunday. But why are we doing those things? Is it because we have done our duty and now we can have fun? Is it because we just can’t think of anything more to say about the Lord? We must evaluate our hearts and see just what is there. We should be more concerned with things that last, with things that are eternal, than the petty things we waste our time on.
The big question is what is so wrong in our minds about looking or behaving in a manner befitting our age and position. There should be a distinction in both manner and appearance of someone who is 50 and someone who is 20. Just as it is against nature for an older woman to look 30, so it is also unseemly for them to behave like 30. That is no excuse for a young woman to be silly or frivolous. But we do learn by example and there should be someone we can look to, to show us what a Godly woman looks and behaves like.
The next thing we see is that an older woman should not be a false accuser. There are two points that stood out to me here. One is something we all know. Satan is the accuser of the brethren. And he does a fine job without our help. As women of God, we should have no part in that. The definition of false accuser in the Word Study dictionary says, “One who falsely accuses and divides people without any reason.” We must be so very careful not to divide the body. Anything that causes a division of the true body of Christ is not the action of a true believer. This, however, brings me to my second point. If there is a problem, we supposed to deal with it. If there is a sin besetting us or someone else, we as believers are supposed to be divided from sin. Part of teaching is correction. You can’t be a good teacher if you don’t correct your student’s mistakes. But there is a proper way to do that. It must be done in kindness, in love, using the word to show where the error is. And most importantly it must be done in private, meaning that it is not done through gossip or backbiting. One of the other aspects of teaching is that there must be trust between the teacher and the student. Where there is gossip being spread by a teacher, there can be no trust. We must guard our words so carefully to keep from betraying each other.
So I would ask you, dear ladies, where are our hearts? Are there areas where we are not exhibiting what becomes holiness? Are there times we are falsely accusing others? These are things that shouldn’t be named as characteristics of a Godly woman, of any age. Why do we do the things we do? Should we be doing them? Or is there a way we could be redeeming our time to better serve the Lord, our families and the body of Christ? May God show us how we can better serve Him and may we see it blessing those around us by spurring them on to holiness.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Titus 2 Devotional Starts Tomorrow!
Tomorrow we will begin our devotional on Titus 2 again and I pray this time, we will be able to finish it!
Before we start for the second time, I thought I should give you all a day to remind us of what we have read already. So if you want to read the first post, you can click on the link below. See you tomorrow!
~The Aged Women Likewise...~
Before we start for the second time, I thought I should give you all a day to remind us of what we have read already. So if you want to read the first post, you can click on the link below. See you tomorrow!
~The Aged Women Likewise...~
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