When the Old Becomes New Again

Do you know how you read familiar Bible passages over and over again and then one day, it’s like you are reading that same passage for the first time ever? That happened to me last week. Actually, I was reading through several books of the Bible for my New Testament class and lost track of where I was and ran across this passage:

             

“The older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanders, not given to much wine, teachers of good things—that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.”

It’s embarrassing to admit how many times I’ve shared this passage in various women’s groups. But up until now, it’s always been shared as a challenge to older women and how much we, as younger women, need them and their example. We need them to pour into us and to show us how to live godly lives through mentoring. I had it down to a science what they needed to do for us not realizing that time has a way of sneaking upon us causing the tables to turn.

Yet as I read that passage last week, my pen went crazy underlining different parts of it. I began wondering why I had never read these verses before and then checked the reference. My mouth fell open in shock as I discovered it was Titus 2:3-5, the most famous mentoring passage ever! Wait, what?!?! How could that be especially when it's been the basis of several devotionals/lessons I've shared over the years???

It was the first time I ever viewed Titus 2 with “old woman" eyes. I’m no longer that young one craving instruction in these areas (although there will always be women I look to as mentors and will continually glean from), but rather I’m the older woman with younger women in my care…six of them to be exact. Six lively and talented preteens had just spent that morning with me and their faces came to mind as I read these verses.

It suddenly became scary to read some of these things and to see my responsibility to them. They are the younger women wanting an older woman to invest them, to show them the way, and to point them to God in the ways that I was pointed to Him through the lives of many older women in my church. 

The list in Titus 2:3-5 instructs as well as convicts, yet it all boils down to gospel-centered living. Am I living out the gospel every single day of my life so that “the word of God may not be blasphemed”? Because if I’m living out the gospel, it will reflect in the things I do, in the ways I talk to and about others, in the ways I love and care for my own family, and in the ways I act and react to life.

As God keeps using my seminary classes to help me work out what it really means to live out the gospel daily, may He also give me “old woman" eyes so that I can be a part of building the church and building future generations of the church.

"I Will Not Forget You" (#fmfparty)

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me.” Isaiah 49:15-16 (NIV)

How perfect this verse is during those moments when you need your family to surround you and uplift you as you go through life-changing events and no one is there either because of distance, relationship, or choice. This week, I’ve been reminded more than once that we are never alone! We are never forgotten! It’s impossible to forget something that is engraved in the palm of your hands for it is a part of you. It also is part of the hand that can either be the most exposed or the most hidden and protected.

John 10:28-29 says, “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I am My Father are one.”

When I was a teenager, many days were spent sitting alone and wondering if I was forgotten. But I’d write my name on one palm and God’s name on the other palm and wonder what it must be like to have my name inscribed in His hand. I would open and close my fingers over my palm trying to soak in the analogy of being remembered, of being wanted and deeply connected to someone, and of being secure. I’d close my eyes and envision what it’d be like to be covered and protected by God’s hand as my name was sitting there in my palm surrounded and protected by my strong fingers. I found great security in John 10 knowing that no one can snatch us out of God’s hands so He is keenly aware of what/who is in His hands and what's happening to them. 

When we are engraved in God’s hands, there is no possible way that we can ever be forgotten…we are forever a part of a compassionate God who will never let us go! That knowledge comforts us when our hearts yearn for comfort and security in the midst of great change. That knowledge compels us to sit in the presence of God until we surrender to the comfort of His hands around us so He can hold us through the chaos and uncertainty. And that knowledge allows us to listen for God's tender and reassuring whispers of "I will never forget you."

* Five Minute Friday (#FMFparty) gives writers a word prompt. We are encouraged to write whatever comes to mind about that word in just five minutes.  No editing, no perfection, only writing from the heart.  To find out more, visit http://katemotaung.com/five-minute-friday/.  This week's word is "FORGET".

Why I Am a (Baptist)

Before today, I have never been asked to explain why I’m a Baptist. This question caught me off guard and my immediate thoughts went to the fact that I’ve always been a Baptist because it’s just how I grew up. But yet, I’ve lived long enough to have experienced different types of Baptists and varying viewpoints that “being Baptist” can mean nearly anything. I’ve also seen where different “types” of Baptists fight and judge amongst each other over what Baptist means and who is doing “Baptist” right.

I grew up under Jerry Falwell, Senior (founder of Liberty University) and broke the mold and received my undergrad from Bob Jones University. Both are distinctly Baptist institutions yet they both hold many differing Christian viewpoints. When I was at BJU, everything I grew up thinking that was true was questioned and challenged. Here was one Baptist group saying the other Baptist group was extreme, even heretical, leaving me very confused because I knew Dr. Falwell and knew how I was brought up, and it was not wrong or sinful. By my senior year of college, I was so tired of all the dogmatic religiosity warring against the God I kept reading about in the Bible because I couldn’t make them reconcile with each other. I no longer cared about which Baptist way was right or debating big, long theological words or being shamed for enjoying praise and worship. I just wanted to know who God was when religion was stripped away and discovered that God is simply too big to be confined by a man-made religious label. 

So being Baptist doesn’t guarantee salvation nor does it mean you always have the right way to go to heaven or that you’re always following God’s Word…it depends on the person or group who is claiming to be Baptist. I am a Believer in Christ first and then a Baptist second. The first is my belief, the second is the group in which I choose to carry out my beliefs. There are many things about the Baptist way that truly represent Christ and remind us of who He is and His desire for the body of Christ. There is comfort and familiarity in some of our “traditions” and there is cohesion and movement when Baptists come together for the Kingdom whether it’s in making disciples, sending missionaries, or standing in solidarity against culture.

Being Baptist means we believe that our God is the One True God who created the world, who sent His son via a virgin birth, to live, minister, and die for our sins out of a pure love for us. It means believing that God had a distinct plan to redeem His world and give us a future with Him. Being Baptist means we believe the Bible is inspired by God and that it is living and powerful as it changes lives and leads us into a relationship with God. Being Baptist means we practice baptism and the Lord’s Supper as acts of obedience and testimony of our desire to follow Christ as outlined in scripture, not as the means of salvation. 

Being Baptist means we share a common identity in Christ so we meet together in our Baptist churches for a like-minded community where we learn about God and where we grow and serve Him together. And the latter imparts a great responsibility to make sure that we are giving out the one true God and His Word, not a man-made version of God that we’ve watered down (or built up) with our preferences. It’s giving God over a religion and its traditions. And it’s making sure we remain true to the core doctrines and values of God’s Word while living out of the grace and love that Christ has given to us. So to me, saying I’m Baptist is nearly synonymous with saying I’m Christian. However, I don’t want to reach a point where a certain religion and its rules dictate and/or determine my faith in God. While my faith is founded in God alone, God often uses my Baptist church to help guide me in His ways through the instruction and fellowship of those who seek Him.