Becoming Titus 2: Time to Teach a Bit about Love!

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Titus 2:3-5 NIV

³Likewise, 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. ⁴Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, ⁵to 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.

Welcome!  I am so glad to have you join in this month's Becoming Titus 2 discussion!  I don't know about you, but this slow-paced reflection and study of such a short portion of Scripture is having a powerful impact on my life.  With each morsel of His Word, I am tasting the sweetness of becoming a woman whose heart is settled on the Titus 2 call.  The cares of this world and the pressure to perform are slowly fading away as I embrace God's design for a woman to focus her life on living reverently, to be wary of my addictions, to teach God's goodness, and to train up the next generation of women.  But it doesn't stop there!  The Lord longs to see His girls fulfill the roll of mentor, mother (which I believe is possible regardless of whether we birth our own children, formally adopt, or spiritual adopt), disciple and discipler, and as we explore this month...lover of our husbands.

ShOcKiNg!

Yes, God has called us to love our husbands and children.  For now, we're just focusing on the first part:  to love our husbands and to teach the younger women to love theirs. So my friends, the great question before is us this:

Do you love your husband?

How does your life testify of your love for your husband?

More-over, are you being intentionally about loving your husband in such a way that you are positively, Biblically training your daughters (and the other women in your life) to love their husbands (present or future)?

The Message translation says that the younger women will know how to love their husbands simply by looking at us,

"By looking at them, the younger women 

will know how to love their husbands..."

Cringe. Gulp.  Turn a shade of red.

Chances are, most of us have had plenty of times where our words and actions have not demonstrated love toward our spouse.  We're human.  We fail and sin.  Yet even so, we must strive for who we are to be in Christ -- over-comers able to love, because we are loved, and called to love, because we are His.  The Scriptures make it plain in so many ways:

1 John 4:19
We love because he first loved us.

Mark 12:30-31Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

Paul gives us step by step instructions in 1 Corinthians 13 for how to practice love, which in the Message is pretty plain:

   Love never gives up.
   Love cares more for others than for self.
   Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
   Love doesn't strut,
   Doesn't have a swelled head,
   Doesn't force itself on others,
   Isn't always "me first,"
   Doesn't fly off the handle,
   Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
   Doesn't revel when others grovel,
   Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
   Puts up with anything,
   Trusts God always,
   Always looks for the best,
   Never looks back,
   But keeps going to the end.

In our pursuit of Becoming Titus 2 women, we need to hold ourselves accountable to loving our husbands -- not because they have earned it nor deserve it -- but because God calls us to do so for the benefit of the young women we are training and to glorify Him in the process.  Therefore, we must look at every aspect of our interactions with our husbands, the words we speak to him and about him, and even our thought life.  It comes down to this,

Am I loving my husband in my thoughts, words, and actions as I would if he were Jesus?

It is hard.  But in Christ, by His strength, it is possible...and it is a journey.  Here's a bit about what I've learned and been practicing here, and another transforming moment here.  By God's extravagant grace, I'm practicing daily acts of loving and respecting my husband, while also teaching my daughters by example.  It is in the little things and big actions:

• Like hopping up to kiss my husband hello when he walks through the door.  
• Caring for the home...and the dirty laundry...and the paper work...and...and...without complaining as a way of being a quiet source of peace instead of the dripping faucet Proverbs describes.
• Listening to my husband's opinion, and responding with gentle, respectful words, especially in front of the children.  
• Expressing appreciation for how hard he works at his job and at home, providing for us financially and physically, while making time to also listen to our endless stringing words of emotions.
• Determining that this commitment is for life, as opposed to whim or feeling, and therefore be willing to say "I'm sorry..." as the first step toward reconcilation in those tough times...and even doing so in front of the children.
• And simply silly, but meaningful things like wearing this little shirt that lights up his face...
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I love my husband and respect him,...

What about your journey?  

Are you learning to love (and respect) your husband?  Tell us how!

How are you training up the young women around you by your example?  Share some practical ideas!




By His Grace & Mighty Power,







Enjoy our previous discussions and mark your calendars for those ahead!

1. Jan ~ Beliefs about Titus 2 in Today's Culture
2. Feb ~ What does it mean to be reverent?
3. Mar ~ What does it mean to be slanderers and addicted (to too much wine)?
4. Apr ~ How do we teach what is good?
5. May ~ How do we train the younger women? Who are the younger women?
   
6. Jun ~ How do we train the younger women to love their husbands?
7. Jul ~ How do we train the younger women to love their children?
8. Aug ~ How do we learn to be self-controlled and pure?
9. Sep ~ What does it mean to be busy at home?
10. Oct ~ What does it mean to be kind?
11. Nov ~ What does it mean to be subject to our husband?
12. Dec ~ How does becoming a Titus 2 woman cause the Word of God to not be maligned?