Reverent in Behavior

Video Talk

 

Titus 2:3-5 ESV

 

“Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.”

 

First of all, most all of these qualities are for all of us no matter our age or whether we are male or female, and it should be obvious which ones are strictly to be applied to females and also to us older or younger women. For example, we should all be reverent in our behaviors. And to be reverent is to be respectful and humble, and to show consideration and regard first of all for God, and then for other people. But this should never involve compromise of truth and righteousness, for first and foremost we are to show reverence and respect to God.

 

None of us should be slanderers. And to slander others is the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person's reputation. We, as followers of Christ, should never make up lies about others and then to spread those lies to other people, especially with the willful intention of damaging another person’s reputation. That is just outright cruelty, and it is hate, and we are not to be people who hate others and who are cruel to others, for this literally could mean their deaths, in some cases.

 

Now all of us are to love all people, not just our spouses and our children, but we should definitely give preference to our spouses and to our children over other people, for they should be our first concern. And this word “love” (agape) means to prefer to love, and to prefer what God prefers, who is love. And what he prefers is what is holy, godly, righteous, morally pure, upright, faithful, and honest, etc. So if we are loving our spouses and our children we are going to do right by them and not harm (not evil).

 

All of us are to be self-controlled, but this is not of ourselves, but it just means that our lives are not out of control, but that they are under the control of God, and we are people who exercise good discipline and restraint and modesty and moral purity instead of living wild lives which are out of control, lacking in restraint. And this goes along with being pure, which is to be unadulterated, wholesome, and unpolluted by what is sinful and evil and of this sinful world. But it also means to be genuine and not fake.

 

Now young women are to be working at home, but out of necessity many young women are having to work for money to be able to pay their bills because of the high cost of things these days. And so I tend to see “working at home” as meaning that they are to be caring for the needs of their household, their family members, and their home, and that they are not being neglectful of them. If working outside the home means they are neglecting the needs of their household, it would be better if they could work at home, but I understand that is not always possible, especially in the case of single parents.

 

Now all women should be submissive to their husbands, for God has set the husband to be the one in authority over the household. But submissive doesn’t mean the woman is the slave and that the husband is the slave master. The Lord created woman to be man’s helper, and so in a good marriage the husband and wife should work together side by side. But where there is a difference of opinion, the wife should yield to her husband unless her husband is requiring her to do something sinful or unsafe. For all of us first and foremost are to be obedient to our Lord and submissive to Him.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ImOfsE43zY

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Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

 

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

 

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

 

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg

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