A Reverent Woman
It still seems a little crazy to realize that Mill House Ministries has been active for a little over a year now. To be honest, when we first started with the idea of Mill House Ministries I was surprised to find that I could write posts for a month, let alone a year. This has been an opportunity for God teach me as well as for me to show what I have learned over this last year. However, I feel that it is necessary to remind our readers of the key verses that for me, Mill House Ministries is founded on.
“Likewise, 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. 4 Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 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 2:3-5
These verses have always stood out to me, but more so as we began the endeavor of Mill House Ministries. I believe that this passage is one of the key passages to how a Christian woman should be. Starting first with being reverent in the way we should live. The word reverent is to show great respect. When it comes to living a reverent life, that is to show great respect to God and His Word. I have met a few women who were reverent in the way they live. These women were not just an encouragement to those around them, but an example for me as well. These women lived in such a way that you truly see the love of God through them, they always found ways to encourage and relate the joys and trials that they or others were experiencing back to the Word of God. They lived with respect for those around them and were truly in the world but not of the world. They held their tongue and were not prone to gossip. What was told to them was not broadcasted to anyone listening. For women this is a prevalent issue, women love to gossip, but to live a reverent life to God is to keep not only the requests of those around us in mind but to keep details of their marriage private.
To live a reverent life is also to share what you have learned with younger women. To many young women come to know Christ but then fall by the wayside. Those of us who have been in the faith longer need to come alongside these new believers and help them to learn, we need to teach them what is good so that they in turn can teach others. This was something that this last year has come as a surprise to me. I honestly didn’t know if I had enough knowledge of the Bible to be a part of the Ministry, but through God’s grace He has taught me and I in turn have been able to share that with you. We might not believe or look the part of what a teacher is thought to look like, yet Jesus made it evidently clear throughout all of His Word and even commanding us to disciple and share what we have learned with others. Where we fail to measure up, God is quick to help us; where we fail to have the necessities to teach, God is there to bestow.
Through this passage we see that to live a reverent life is a life of self-control but also to be working. We are not called to sit still, but to be busy at home can mean a variety of different things. One great example of a woman who lived a reverent life while working was the example given of the Proverbs 31 woman, this women purchased a field out of her own earnings but at the same time provided for her family and through her actions her husband was esteemed. While this passage is short, it packs a punch for how a Christian woman should be, the whole goal for our actions is so that we do not malign the Word of God but instead act as lights to the world.
Seek the truth and encourage one another,
Alex