Did God really say?
Titus 2: 3-5, 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 train 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.
I read a book on godly womanhood once that went into depth suggesting ways in which a woman could actually not fulfill her duties. The author didn’t come out and say it in such a way but she did make it clear that she felt that the things involved in taking care of a home, such as actually cooking for your family, were keeping women far too tied to the home.
Such requirements, she suggested, weren’t really applicable to women today. When discussing family meals, for instance, she said that we ought to develop a solid schedule for feeding our family so they will know what’s on the menu and the wife and mother can be confident in her preparation. So far, so good. But her suggestion fell far short of any actual practicality and usefulness.
Her suggestion was that, instead of doing extensive meal planning, the homemaker have a rotation of frozen foods and going out to eat and follow it on a repeating, weekly, basis. Her family’s schedule was as follows: family eats breakfast out at least once a week, lunch out at least once a week, dinner out once a week, orders pizza in once a week, buys frozen pizza once a week (are you seeing a pattern here?), and buys frozen burritos once a week. All other meals were, for the most part, other take out and frozen foods; only occasionally did she make time to cook. This same mindset was in place concerning other areas of homemaking.
This is contrary to how a wise woman takes care of her home and family.
“The home is where a woman provides the expressions of love for her husband and her children. The home is where she leads and guides and teaches and raises the godly generation. The home is where she is protected and secured from other men and potentially wicked relationships and abuses. The home is where she lodges strangers, washes saints’ feet, shows hospitality and devotes herself to every good work. That’s her sphere. And whatever of that home and whatever of the goodness of her life she can take outside and not sacrifice the home is between her and the Lord and her husband.”~ John MacArthur
Our society hates the idea of a home-centered woman, as does Satan. The world and Satan seek to convince women that God’s Word is misogynistic. We’re told that by doing what the Lord commands, we are sell-outs and are not living up to our full potential. When we actually serve our family instead of serving ourselves, we are supposedly letting everyone, including our husband and children, down.
Actually, the opposite is true. The home is immensely important in God’s plan. He designed it and the people who would inhabit it and He gave us our duties and purposes. The home is important to the church and to God’s plans to bring redemption to His elect. When we love our husbands and our children and serve them by fulfilling our duties in our home, we are working hand in hand with the Lord and fulfilling His will and helping to bring about dominion of His Kingdom.
Women are called by God not to be a different kind of man–weaker, smaller, but similarly capable–but to fulfill a different role entirely. This is what those devoted to modern sentiments don’t want to hear. Feminism has often been Satan’s lie of choice. Satan has been lying to us since he lied to our first Mother. Satan’s lie to us is the same one he whispered to Eve: Did God really say? If he can confuse us as to the truth of God’s Word, he can turn us away from the purpose God designed us for and cause us to run after our own desires.
But our own desires aren’t pleasing to the Lord. Jeremiah 17: 9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” When we follow our own heart, we are following after evil. Satan knows this and that’s why he works without ceasing to confuse us. And confused so many of us, even within the church, are.
When we call God’s Word into question concerning the purposes of the home and those who live there, we are following our own hearts and missing the greater purpose God has for us. Our duties as women are not just tied up in sweeping, doing laundry, and putting mac and cheese on the table. Those things are important, vastly so, but it’s not the beginning, middle, and end of the joy of our purpose and duties. It’s not just about dishes and diapers but about taking dominion. When we serve God by serving our husbands, children, neighbors, and church we bring glory to the Lord, build His Kingdom, and are far happier and more fulfilled than we could ever be if we were simply seeking to fulfill ourselves.
God’s wisdom is always best, sisters.
Photo by Suhyeon Choi on Unsplash
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