Becoming a Titus 2 "Single" Lady: Part 1

I know that some of you are probably wondering where in the world is my Random Picture Thursday post...well, I decided to take a break! BUT...I wanted to do a post on this subject..."Becoming a Titus 2 Single Lady"...

Titus 2

But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:

That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.

The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,

To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.

In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity,

Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.

Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again;

Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.

For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.

I know what you are thinking...how can this apply to me now? I have no husband. I have no children, and who knows that I may never have a husband or child? I have thought that many of times and have been told by many people that this is MY time to go and do as I please...I have no responsibility to no one...no husband to please...no baby to care for, but in reality is that right? We as young ladies and even as young men have just as much responsibility as the older generation! For what about our younger siblings, what about those little kids at church, even to the point of "younger" brothers and sisters in Christ?

You know, I am an "aged woman" to someone. We have a little girl's club at church, and I know that I am only 23, but to those little girls, I am their example. I am my sisters' example. I am some new converts' teacher. You are as well! So these verses apply to us younger single people as it does the old married couples! ;-D The great thing is the fact that we can apply the Word of God to every aspect of our lives!

Let's look at verses 1-3:

But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:

That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.

Ok, young men, I'm going to skip over ya'll. Maybe one day, I'll get a young man to write to ya'll on this subject, but it's just my job to speak to ladies!

The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

Ok, ladies, "likewise" just means in like manner, we are to be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience which should apply to any Christian (most of these are found in the Fruit of the Spirit in Gal. 5). Sober simply means showing no excessive or extremes in emotions, fancy or prejudice...in other words, you are not up or down like a roller coaster...not that you don't know how to have a good time and you are constantly walking around like what we say at home "death warmed over," but you should know how to control your emotions like the verses in Ecclesiastes about how there is a season to cry, to laugh, etc. Temperate means showing moderation; showing moderation in desire or appetite. This applies to so much in our Christian life. Our spiritual growth depends a lot on our temperance to abstain from lustful thoughts, desires. Sound in faith, in charity (love for one another), in patience, pretty much explains itself. I know from experience that this is dependent on our walk with God. Our time in His Word and our prayer life. Yes, the Lord does give us a measure of faith, but as it says in Romans 10:17, faith comes from the Word of God, and unless we make an effort to get into His Word, we will never be sound in faith. Likewise, our love for our fellow Christians will never be as it should. If you are having a hard time loving your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, check out your spiritual life and walk.

Maybe I should break this down a little (I didn't realize that this would be this long!), but I will go ahead and finish verse 3.

"...that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness..." We as Christians will never be perfect, and striving to have high standards according to Scripture is not legalism (that is another discussion that I have on my mind, but that I will save for a later post!). The Patch Club is learning a new verse this time, I Peter 1:15-16, "But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy."

As I said before, the Bible is our textbook on how to live our lives. We live in a generation today where our "aged women" watch vile soap operas, read dirty romance novels, watch movies with profanity, nudity, and violence with the excuse that they are not committing those sins (and yes, they are Christian women and men), but my Bible still says "in all manner of conversation" and "Abstain from all appearance of evil" : all appearance simply means every form (I Thess. 5:22). We not only have these simple verses, but countless others on lust, taking the name of the Lord in vain. I could go on and on on this one subject, but I think that most people know that this is wrong. Think about it this way, would you allow someone to come into your house and say a cuss word? Would you allow someone to "make out" on your sofa? Would you allow your someone to come in shooting and shouting profanities? Of course not! That would be wicked, yet we are giving place to those sins. Those things are taking root in our minds and hearts. How can we be Christ-like with such things running through our minds?

"...not false accusers..." This is another big one...a liar, would be another term. A false accuser could be a gossiper, a liar like I already said, a blame-shifter. We are so quick to pass on the blame to someone else (ex: Adam and Eve). Self-centeredness would probably be a good term. What does a gossip want? To be the center of attention....what is a liar doing? thinking only on self, on how this situation will affect herself or himself. Isn't it amazing that a lot of our root problems come down to the fact of whether we are self-centered or not?

I am going to stop at this point, but sometimes, I know that it does feel overwhelming! How can I be what I should be? I once typed up a interview that a young preacher had with Dr. Lee Roberson. Dr. Roberson said the key to everything in our lives is to die to self and be filled with the Holy Spirit. It is a daily battle to die to self, yet through Christ, we can be what we ought to be! He has promised us that! So this week, I challenge you confess your known sins, get into your Bible, ask the Lord to show you what needs to change in your life to be the example that you should be, ask Him to help you to die daily, and to be filled with the Holy Spirit. (John 15)

I Timothy 4:12

"Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity."

See you next time for part 2!