Titus 2: a model for life
The experiment failed. It failed miserably. The cruelty of the experiment was that you and I didn't even know we were participants. Some of us bear deep scars from the experiment. Others lost their identity because of the experiment. Our daughters and granddaughters, sons and grandsons are more vulnerable because of the experiment. All of society was influenced - in one way or another -- by this experiment. The experiment was called the "girlhood project". During the 1960s and 70s, boys were boys, but girls were an "experiment". What does this mean? It means that many in the modern feminist crowd desired that girls become more like boys. With that goal in mind, dresses were out and jeans were in. Ballet and dance were out, soccer and even wrestling were in. Modesty was out, "sexy" was in. Homemaking skills were out, climbing the corporate ladder was in.
The competition was on! Being equal, we were told, meant "being the same." So that girls might be treated the same as boys, comprehensive sex education began as early as kindergarten in coed classrooms. In fact, everything became coed: college dorms, military ships, and even some public restrooms. But, something stood in the way of complete "equality". Only women can become pregnant. Abortion became necessary to enable a woman's body to become more like a man's. The Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade appeared to accomplish this feat. With legalized abortion, women were declared sexually, reproductively, and responsibility-free!
Women my age and younger have certainly been more free, but I am convinced that we are also less respected, less content, less safe. The experiment discouraged men from practicing chivalry and responsibility. I invite you to come to your own conclusion by answering these questions: If boys will be boys, and girls will be boys, then what? Who will be the lady that brings out the best in a gentleman? Who will be the wife, mother, and maker of the home? Who will bear and nurture life? Who will be the Biblical pillar for the man? What will happen to relationships - courtship, marriage, and family? What will become of posterity? What consequences will the next generation bear?
Being "equal," according to modern feminists, means that girls have the "right" to do "anything a boy can do." Boys wrestle, so can girls. Boys serve in combat, so can girls. I've heard it said time and again: "Girls can do whatever boys can do!" Very few stop to ask: "But should they?" Loud and angry feminists may have had their way; they may have even thought they overcame the one obstacle to true "equality;" nevertheless, the entire experiment failed miserably. That's what happens when we rebel against God's good plan for life.
God did not say that He created male and female to be the same. He said that He created them at different times, in different ways, and for different purposes. (Gen. 2:7, 15-17, 18-22) God did not say that men and women can live their lives any way they pleased. He said that some choices are wrong (resulting in painful consequences) and other choices are right (resulting in blessings of life). (Deut. 30:19-20) God did not say that His is a world of chaos. He said that design and order lead to a future of hope for individuals, families, and society. (Jer. 29:11) Because He is completely fair and just, God warned against evil and the consequences that will surely follow. Abortion of children and the pain it causes mothers, fathers, and society is one of those consequences.
But when did God say all of this? I have noted that we Christians may seek answers to life's difficult problems in the Word, but we are guilty of going only so far. The answers to the following questions are all found in the very first verses of Genesis (before sin distorted God's perfect design):
What does it mean to be human?
What is man?
What is woman?
Does "equal" mean "the same"?
Are the roles of men and women competitive or complimentary?
What is our relationship to God?
How shall we live?
Adam and Eve made a choice. Some might say that theirs as an act of "pro-choice." I think, however, that it was a poor choice.
Their poor choice proves that the decision or action of one person can affect dozens, hundreds, and, in this case, generations of other people. We've all been suffering the consequences of sin ever since. Satan is delighted. He knows that, in chaos, human life is at risk. But, God did not throw up His hands. He did not say, "My plan did not work so I'm finished with My creation!" God's plan was so "out of this world" that it included salvation! God loves us with such amazing grace that He sent a Savior in Jesus Christ - true God and true man. Jesus lived on earth, suffered on the Cross, paid the full price for every sin, and won victory over Satan and death. God's plan has not failed.
Quite the opposite is true. God's plan saved you, me, and all who confess their daily sins and believe in the power of Jesus for personal salvation. God so loves us that He continues to provide order and direction for boys and girls, men and women. This is why I've been excitedly leading small groups of women in quiet, thoughtful, and encouraging studies based on Titus 2. God gives instructions to His people about how they should live throughout Scripture, but the model of instruction in Titus is gender specific. God's Words through St. Paul to Titus speak to men and women separately. Older men are to mentor younger men; older women are to mentor younger women. The model for women (2:3-5) is a powerful way to show other women God's design for living --
Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so training the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled . . . (2:3-5 ESV)(Note: Titus 2:2, 6-8 speaks to men.)
I have been told that these words from God in Titus are unpopular, especially among women. That may be. Nevertheless, the woman (or man) who tries to follow God's model for mentoring found in Titus 2 will begin to transform the culture. A weakened culture can be repaired when we know what God says, trust it, and apply it in our daily living.
The ideal setting for a "Titus 2 Tea" is the home. There, in a place of safety, we meet for a morning of history, story-telling, and Bible study. A great deal of encouragement and hope is offered during discussion and time of fellowship. My favorite opportunity, however, comes during a "Titus 2 Retreat" when women have the quiet of evening to reflect on God's Word before resuming study and discussion the next morning.
Titus 2 is a model that leads out of chaos to a future of hope. Chaos results when we allow ourselves to be influenced by ungodly ideas which include evolution, modern sex education, abortion, "my rights," strong over the weak, cohabitation, "equal means being the same," and rejection of the role of wife, mother, and homemaker. Hope comes when we confess our lack of trust in God's Word, admit our wrong choices, and fall to our knees where Jesus reaches down to pick us up - forgiven and set free to live new lives!
Titus 2 does more than give us a model for mentoring and instruction. It explains the promise of God's blessings to those who use this model in their families and communities -- For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works (3:11-14 ESV).
Men and women who live life according to their own ideas make plans, but these plans may lead to experiments that fail and lives that are wounded. God's Word is not an experiment. God's ideas never fail.
God's Word - from beginning to end - is filled with promise! There is nothing else that I could share with any other woman - younger or older - that would be more loving, instructive, or life-changing! Titus 2 is but one of God's many Words which lead both women and men out of chaos and toward a future of hope!