Then they can urge the younger women to love their … children
Summary: Paul wants young women to care for their children as God cares for us. The word used in the NIV is “love,” but in this case, it means “caring like a friend.”
Oh, dear…
This is one of those topics that could go on forever. It seems to connect with so many things. Why would women need to be urged to love their children?
The kind of love that Paul is referring to is the same kind that we addressed yesterday in “Titus 2:4 (a) — Roses & Valentines.” It is rooted in the Greek word “philos” (pronounced fe’-los). He seems to be saying is that younger women should care about their children as they would care about a friend.
How do you treat a friend?
Don’t you wish them well? Wouldn’t you help them if they were in need? Would you tell them if they had a piece of salad stuck in their teeth?
Each of us has an inner circle of people who are close to us. They are people we trust to have our best interests at heart. Sometimes that means that a friend has to tell us about a shortcoming. But because we trust them, because they are in our inner circle, we accept what they say.
The relationship between child and mother is like that. The child does not know anyone else except those who care for them when they are tiny. As they grow, they learn about other people. Sometimes those lessons about people turn out well, and other times they are painful. Yet, that first relationship with our mother always remains.
Unless she does not care.
Tragically, some women are not able to care. (This same tragic truth applies to some husbands and fathers, too.) Job describes it this way:
“The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,
though they cannot compare
with the wings and feathers of the stork.
She lays her eggs on the ground
and lets them warm in the sand,
unmindful that a foot may crush them,
that some wild animal may trample them.
She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers;
she cares not that her labor was in vain,
for God did not endow her with wisdom
or give her a share of good sense.”
(Job 39:14-17)
I know a pastor who is heavily involved in serving the homeless. He tells me that teaching people to live in homes again takes time. It takes months or years, depending on how long a person has been without a home. Like the ostrich, without learning, without care, we regress to a careless state.
People are not endowed with knowledge from birth. We need to be taught. We need our Father in heaven to teach us because he is the source of all knowledge.
Application: Consider what you know and what you think you know.
Food for Thought: How do we know we can trust what we think we know?
Does what we know conform to God’s standards as revealed in His word? If so, we can trust in that knowledge.
Thank you, Rich!
A straightforward answer. I wonder about the process though. How do we know we are conforming to His Word? I think that is where it gets complicated.
I am not sure it is that complicated. We do this on our own every time we open God’s word. It is true that secondary issues can get complicated. Some things are very straight forward. From His word I trust that I know I should have no others gods before Him, that adultery is wrong, that stealing, lying, covering is wrong. That I should honor my parents. That Jesus is coming back to rule. That salvation is in Christ alone. The list could get very long of certainties. I think His word reveals truth. If I don’t go there for truth, I am not sure where to go. If I look at not just one verse but Scriptural themes I think I can gain His truths in the most important issues.
I meant coveting, not covering.
Oh… I see what you mean.
If we trust in God’s Word then we have a yard stick to check our knowledge and beliefs against.
You are right. Not complicated at all. 🙂
A deep philosophical question. It seems to be a matter of what, who. why we have come to know and trust what we know is really true. Do we trust our 5 senses to give us a correct 🤔 vision of reality. What is our experience and faith in the ability of our own mind to use logic to draw conclusions about the nature of truth and reality.
In practical terms virtually all human beings trust their senses to give them valid input and accept natural laws such as gravity. Our feelings and emotions, our relationships, our upbringing, experience, exposure to a variety of opinions, literature, art, mathematics, or whatever we are drawn to learn influence our presuppositions, our worldview and the manner in which we formulate, opinions, make judgments, and decide what is reality, what is trustworthy, and who or what we can put our faith or trust in and rely on.
When Robert Dick Wilson was a young man he decided to spend his life in the following manner. He spent 15 years learning virtually all the ancient languages of the near and middle east, in addition to archeological discoveries.
He spent the near 15 years, discovering and translating the languages and revelations uncovered by archeological, historical, and linguistically study of these interwoven cultures, and civilizations.
Finally, he spent 15 years, writing, publishing, speaking and explaining the results of what he had learned to the world and modern society.
He discovered the Bible, especially the Old testament was astonishing accurate in its representation of the facts and culture in the periods, people’s, culture, traditions, references to rulers and use of terms. In fact it was extremely trustworthy as to these matters.
It still takes faith to accept and practice the faith principles but its historical and factual verification have been confirmed. Others scholars have done so with the New Testament as well.
Near the end of his life he was asked what did he know absolutely he could trust, rely on, take to the bank, be assured was true, correct and factual.
He replied “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.
Trust the scriptures. More importantly trust the author behind the writing of the scriptures, not the human authors but God Himself. He is reliable, trustworthy, and what He has revealed is true. You can place the future of your soul in His hands without any fear. In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3). Trusting Christ, believing the gospel, knowing Him, experiencing His love and grace are true reality. I can know and experience God’s love and salvation, so can anyone else who will believe. The Bible as well as my experience tells me this is an objective truth as well as a metaphysical reality. The Bible tells me so.
Jeff,
Thank you for sharing the Robert Dick Wilson story! That is encouraging. I appreciate your conclusion, too! Simple and to the point. Thank you!
Sometimes it hurts to think,..so how about if I just stick with what I know to be true,..Christ died and brought me life through His ressurection,..no one ever has had a love like that for me or anyone else for that matter,..
John,
You make me smile! Thank you! Nicely said. 🙂
How do we know we can trust what we think we know?
Events which occur within the first six years of our lives can establish and shape the triggers and our reactive “go to” responses which will be engrained into each of us for life. Any early adversity or nurturing we experience heavily influences how we process the world around us.
Interestingly, Hanna brought Samuel to the Temple after he was weaned. There are two meanings for weaning. The first meaning is the time a baby finishes drinking his mother’s breast milk. But in Bible culture there was another meaning. A child was considered weaned when he not only stopped drinking his mother’s milk, but after his mother taught him the milk of the Word of God. The mother would spend much time teaching her child the basics about God. She would feed her child both physical food and spiritual food. Weaning from the milk of the Word occurred around five or six years old which scientists today believe is an incredibly important time in a child’s development.
Human reasoning is an enemy of faith as we see with the serpent and Eve, and in how the scribes regarding Jesus. Faith sees and reasons beyond the limited ability of human reasoning and can be seriously weakened, as we dismisses spiritual truths which we cannot grasp with our physical minds and senses. Jesus tells us, unless become like a child we will never enter enter the kingdom of heaven, and Peter teaches, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.
Genesis 3:1-5, Mark 2:6-7, Acts 17:1-2, Matthew 18:3, l Peter 2:2
Believers are called to trust in the Lord with all our hearts, avoid attempting to understand our God in human terms. We have been anointed with the power of the Holy Spirit who was sent by God so that we may understand all things taught by God in His timing.
Proverbs 3:5-6, 1 John 2:27, 1 Corinthians 2:12, 2 Corinthians 1:21
I need to add a comment on the age of Samuel. No-one knows for sure his age. Most commentaries give his age as 2-3, however that would mean he needed full time care rather then being of help in the Temple. 1 Samuel 22, But Hanna went not up; for she said to her husband, I will not go up until the child is weaned, and then I will bring him, THAT HE MAY APPEAR BEFORE THE LORD, and there abide forever. This would indicate he would be old enough to be trainable for service rather than a toddler. There were two separate weanings, some commentators suggest there were 3.
Ron,
Thank you for your attention to detail! I like the emphasis on submitting to the Word of God. In the end, it is not an intellectual exercise that reveals God to us. It is our God himself.