Titus 2 for Life

Helping ourselves and others transform the culture.

We CAN build a culture of Life!

Our souls long for a culture of life.

We speak of it with great emotion and feeling.

From the rubble of a culture of death,
we want to raise a culture of life!

But what does such a culture look like?

How do we build it?

A growing number of young men and women call themselves “pro-life,” not only because they have been convinced by hard-to-ignore evidence, but because their very being tells them that human life is special.  Unfortunately, they are unsure how to build a culture in which each human life is respected and protected.  I believe this is because the Blueprint for life has been lost.  That Blueprint is the Word of God.

The people of Israel had lost the Blueprint, too.  They had lost the Book of Moses’ Teachings which the Lord had commanded Israel to follow.  When it was found, Ezra brought the Book of Teachings in front of the people and began to read.  From daybreak until noon, he read from it.  Then the “holy men” explained the Teachings in ways that the people could understand.  The people cried.  They had been without the Teachings for so long and had not lived as God wanted them to.  But Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest, and the Levites who taught the people said, “This is a holy day!  Don’t mourn or cry!  (Nehemiah 8:1-9)

Our society has lost the Teachings – the very Blueprint for a culture of life.  It is no wonder that we live the way we do!  But, you and I do not need to mourn or cry.  Nor do our families, friends, neighbors, or anyone that we meet along life’s path.  We only need to look to God’s Word to know how to build a culture of life.

A culture of life is founded on God’s Word beginning in Genesis.
It is generations of men who remember what God has done and pass it on.

It is generations of women who trust God’s Word and use it.

It is generations of fathers, mothers, children and grandchildren
who believe God’s incredible Good News, forgive one another in
Jesus Christ, and encourage one another to love and good deeds.

It Begins in the Home

 God’s Word assures me that I can personally help build a culture of life by building a home.  Building a home is what a homemaker does.  It is what a mother does.  Even if a woman is not married or unable to have children of her own, she certainly has a sphere of influence – a home, so to speak.  She builds a culture of life by trusting what God has to say about men, women, and children.  She builds a culture of life by nurturing those who enter her “home.”

How do I know this?  Because my mother and grandmothers showed me how it works!  Trusting the Blueprint for life, they set about making a home where husbands were respected, children loved, and neighbors cared for.  Not every day was a good day.  Not every effort was a success.  In spite of disappointments, they were able to start each new day with hope because their eyes were focused on Jesus.  The illustrated to me that culture of life takes root in the home.

Marriage, home and family are the building blocks of a civil society.  God designed the family as a place of safety and security, dependent upon the faithful marriage between one man and one woman whose lives are submitted to Him.  Our understanding of ourselves as male or female comes from the home.  Our worldview is shaped in the home. 

But there is a world out there that has no idea what it means to be a man or woman, or how each is to respond to the other; no idea of what real family means or how fathers and mothers relate; no idea of the harmony which grows out of the created order and the servant-style love of a husband for his wife (Ephesians 5:25); no idea of a woman’s vibrant influence on the culture as the “pillar of the palace” (Psalm 144:12) and the bearer and nurturer of life.  You and I are needed to share these ideas!

 All of my grandparents understood the Biblical idea of family and why society needs such a family.  Of course, if they were here to speak today, I’m quite sure they would confess many failures and mistakes.  They would have welcomed opportunities to do better, but trusted in the promise of their Savior who forgave each and every sin.   I believe that I’m doing what I’m doing today in large part because of them. 

 

I have sweet memories of staying with my mother’s parents for a week every summer.  There was harmony in their home.  I’m sure Grandpa and Grandma Blome had their disagreements; nevertheless, they worked to bring out the best in each other.  Grandpa Blome took his patriarchal role seriously, not be “lording over” his wife and children, but by serving them from a position of authority.  His relationship with the Heavenly Father helped him better relate to his own children.  Grandpa Blome began each day by gathering his family together in the dining room where he read from the Bible and introduced me to ideas of God.   I think that Grandma Blome appreciated her husband’s tender leadership because it brought order out of the chaos of sin.  His understanding of Biblical manhood was an honorable covering for Grandma.  I think my mother learned to feel safe in her femininity thanks to the loving respect and protection of her father.

My journey through girlhood into womanhood was greatly influenced by my mother and my father’s mother.  I spent a lot of time in the home of my Grandpa and Grandma Barhite because they lived just down the road.  I wonder.  Did Grandma Barhite realize that she was mentoring me in the way of the Proverbs 31 woman?

Grandma Barhite delighted in preparing food for her family, setting a pretty table, and being available to her children.  She truly was a “pillar” for her husband.  She drew her strength from the Lord and went to work in her home with energy; her lamp burned late at night.  She practiced the gift of hospitality; she served the needs of others in both church and community.  She taught me lessons of life in her kitchen and, although I never remember her wearing purple, she always spoke with wisdom.  I loved opportunities to “sleep over.”  Tucked under one of her warm quilts, we would talk late into the night.  I can’t recall every story or example she shared, but I know they were imprinted on my mind and influence my decision-making today.

Although I never heard any of my grandparents refer to it in this way, I believe they were daily struggling to build a culture of life.  They accomplished this by passing on the stories of God and what He had done in their lives to my parents.  My parents put what they learned into practice and built a home of their own.  Within this home, my brother and I each had a role model.  We learned about the roles that God assigned to us and how male and female appropriately relate to one another for the good of society.   My mother was the bearer of my life; my father was my “hero” and defender of my life.  My brother and I grew up dealing with the normal challenges of life in a sinful world but, thanks to generational teaching from the Word, we knew the path away from death to life.

My parents and grandparents did not talk about being “pro-life.”  They lived “pro-life.”  I watched my parents adjust personal lives countless times in order to meet the needs of their children, care for their parents, or serve a neighbor.  No matter if it was in their home or a home away from home, they built a culture of life where no one was too young, old, or inconvenient.  My brother and I were shown how to be part of the care-giving circle of life.

Some say that ours has become a culture of death.  That’s because we too easily look to death as the solution to problems of life.  But, death is not God’s idea.  Abortion, divorce, cohabitation, suicide, and euthanasia are all hopeless ideas that begin with Satan’s hiss: “Did God really say . . .?” and our own desire to be in control.  Abortion is the death of a child created and redeemed by God.  Divorce is the death of a relationship intended to build home and family.  Cohabitation is the death of trust and faithfulness which cares little about children.  Suicide or euthanasia is the death of human beings whose bodies and souls belong to God.

God says, “Choose life so that you and your descendants will live!”  How do we do this?  “Love the Lord your God, obey Him, and be loyal to Him!  This will be your way of life.”  (Deut. 30:19)

Life is the choice when we build communities of support – for the expectant parents as well as the parents who grieve their aborted child.  Life is the choice when men cover their “rib” and engage “powers and principalities” with the Sword of the Spirit to bring order out of chaos.  Life is the choice when women trust the Word of God and strengthen society by accepting their most noble calling as “helpmates” and mothers.

Our souls hunger for a culture of life, but without the Blueprint we don’t know how to built it.  God’s Word equips us to paint a compelling picture of Biblical manhood and womanhood, of the created order as opposed to chaos; of home and family; of care-giving and burden-sharing; of forgiveness and reconciliation.  Sinners like you and me who know the way to the Cross are needed to lead others to hope.

Too Old to Adopt article

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We Have a Model

 Each one of us can add a “brick” that builds a culture of life wherever we are.  This truth took on new meaning when I became a grandmother.  I can “mentor” for life from my kitchen, in my living room, or during a “sleep over.”  The model is the same for me as it was for my mother and grandmothers.  That model is found in Titus 2:3-5:

Tell older women to live their lives in a way that shows they are dedicated to God . . . to be examples of virtue.  In this way they will teach young women to show love to their husbands and children, to use good judgment, and to be morally pure.  Also, tell them to teach young women to be homemakers, to be kind, and to place themselves under their husbands’ authority.  Then no one can speak evil of God’s Word.

 (Men have a model, too!  It’s in Titus 2:2, 6-8.)

 What grows out of this model? 

 We can expect what we hope for – the appearance of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.  He gave Himself for us to set us free from every sin and to cleanse us so that we can be His special people who are enthusiastic about doing good things.  (Titus 2:13-14)

 Good things are the stuff on which a culture of life is built!

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  Too Old to Adopt?

Copyright 2003 by Linda D. Bartlett

First published in LIFEDATE, Fall 2003, Updated 2005

Using God’s Word to help ourselves and others transform the culture...