Teaching good things while aging

Titus 2:4-5 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, ⁵ To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

Older women are great treasures to the body of Christ, these are women who had lots of experiences, some of them have experienced challenging marriage, difficult children, health issues etc. Even though we may have the uprising of young women on the platform of preaching, yet, I still believe we need the contribution of older women to balance up life in the church.  There is so much to learn from the life of elderly women in our church.

Maybe you are in your fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties or nineties, there is a space for you in the body of Christ. There are many young wives, young mothers who are struggling and making wrong decisions in life, these women needs the teachings of older women in order for them to balance life together.

The Titus 2: 4-5 tells us the curriculum to teach our younger women, and this is so true of the need amongst the older women. What are you supposed to teach the younger women as older woman in the church?

1. To be sober: Many young women in our churches are battling life challenges by resorting to substance, some are addicted to tobacco, alcohol abuse, shopaholic, while some deliberately work round the clock. If you approach many of these young women, you will realise that they are battling many life circumstances with the wrong attitude. Your closeness with that young woman might be a solution to her life challenges. Younger women need to be thought how to be sober, and it is my prayer that you will step up as an older woman to bridge that gap in the life of young women in the church.
2. To love their husbands: This is another key area the younger women needs to be thought. It is very easy for many younger women to substitute the love for their husbands for their children. The younger generation of wives needs to be thought how to love a man and why to love a man when he seemingly does not deserve this love. This is another part of the curriculum older women ought to teach the younger women.
3. To love their children: We are left today with many unruled children who are seemingly been raised in the church, these children were over pampered by their parents in the name of love, and this is why we need the input of older women to teach the younger ones how to differentiate between love and been spoilt. Younger women have the need to know how and when to love their children.

1. To be discreet: Discreet means to be careful and prudent in one's speech or actions, especially in order to keep something confidential or to avoid embarrassment.  How many young women have brought embarrassment to their homes, husbands, children and themselves? Been discreet seems not to be natural, it has to be learnt, young women have to be thought to be careful and prudent in how they speak and how they act.  The secrets of many husbands are out there in the open because the wife was not knowledgeable to know who and how to share issues regarding their husband.

1. To be chaste: Chaste is abstaining from extramarital, or from all sexual defilement. Has the matter of unchaste attitude not destroy many young women?  Some young married women are involved in extramarital affairs, some are hanging out with another man over the internet, some are getting the affection they are not getting from their husbands from another man who is not their husband. Some of such women felt, no body understands what life is as the wife of their husbands. This is a very critical area where we need the older women to bring the younger wives in, and share and teach me the need to be chaste as Christian women.  Chastity is a challenge for our young girls, some of them might be physically intact,  but their emotion is contaminated. May you arise as an older woman to help the younger ones to be chaste.

1. To be keepers at home: The home front of many of the women in our churches are under attack by the enemy. Some women have abdicated the home for a well-paid job, some travel days and weeks for work, while their home suffer a great deal. There is also another group of women who are in the home as full-time housewife, but honestly, their home is under attack under their nose. Some of their husbands are hooked in strange relationships, some of their children have gone astray. These women seem to be in the home, but yet, they are absent. They lack discernment, they lack the skill to keep watch over their homes. And on the other hand, the Lord has blessed many older women with godly homes, some of them learnt to keep their homes after they failed in their responsibilities, and if such women arise now to teach the younger women to be keepers at home, and how to be this keeper at home, many of our Christian homes will be saved from the salvage of the enemy. The home is the bedrock of a solid church, and the bedrock of each community, nation and generation. The home is the God’s incubator for our children to grow, and the warmth atmosphere for our husbands to relax.  May we see the crucial need of teaching and encouraging the younger women to make their homes a priority.

1. To be good and obedient to their own husbands: This is the final curriculum the older women are encouraged to teach the younger ones. The instruction is not to teach them to be good and obedient, but to be specifically good and obedient to their own It can be more easier for women to respect and act good to other people but not their own husbands, and this is the reason why the older women ought to take responsibility to train the younger ones in the body of Christ the need to specifically live out the Christian life in their relationship with their own husbands. Some of our men in the church are lamenting the fact that their wives are not obedient to them at home. Women can be very vocal at home, useful in church, submissive to the leaders in church, but disobedient at home to their own husbands. And if the older women are not taking responsibility to help these younger women in the matter of obedience (submission) to their own husbands, then many of our churches will be left with fractured homes. 

Older women have the need to arise and teach the younger women through their lifestyle and choices, so that the word of God is not blasphemed. As you age, may you become the answer of God into the midst of the church in our times, that is in dire need of the wisdom of older women. Amen.

I am a mother of two wonderful daughters and I'm married to a lovely husband. I love writing for children, teenagers, women, family etc. There are books that I wrote for children and women. I've written magazines for children and parents as well. My articles are free to use.