How often have you heard the quaint little idiom, “Home is where the heart is?” It sounds so good—so right. But is it? If it means that if you are with the person or at the place you love most, it becomes your true home then I think not, especially in light of my recent studies in Titus 2, verses 4-5. Here, the practicality of the gospel is being fleshed out in the instructions directed toward the domestic duties of young married mothers. These young Christian mothers are to be given to the “home” as defined by God, not by where the heart is, so that “the word of God will not be dishonored” (v. 5). Learning from the older women, the younger women of the Christian community are to give their energies and focus to family and home life.
The delightful poignancy of this passage is in its directness and clarity with which it weaves virtue and duty together. A young woman is to grow in the virtues of discretion, purity, and kindness so that she might grow in her love for her husband and children, and grow in her management and care for the home. Her heart of grace leads to a home of grace, which in turn promotes orderliness and gospel attractiveness as God’s prescription for the home is put on display.
No, my friend, for a Christian woman home is not where the heart is. The truth is that her home is where her husband and children are; and her calling is to give her heart to where her home is! Her home doesn't follow her heart, but her heart is to follow her home. And as it does, she will find the joyful satisfaction of being God’s instrument through which His sanctifying grace flows to her husband and children who will be blessed to have her as a “worker at home.” For every young woman who embraces this high calling, may your husband praise you in the gates and may your children rise up and bless you.
The delightful poignancy of this passage is in its directness and clarity with which it weaves virtue and duty together. A young woman is to grow in the virtues of discretion, purity, and kindness so that she might grow in her love for her husband and children, and grow in her management and care for the home. Her heart of grace leads to a home of grace, which in turn promotes orderliness and gospel attractiveness as God’s prescription for the home is put on display.
No, my friend, for a Christian woman home is not where the heart is. The truth is that her home is where her husband and children are; and her calling is to give her heart to where her home is! Her home doesn't follow her heart, but her heart is to follow her home. And as it does, she will find the joyful satisfaction of being God’s instrument through which His sanctifying grace flows to her husband and children who will be blessed to have her as a “worker at home.” For every young woman who embraces this high calling, may your husband praise you in the gates and may your children rise up and bless you.
“Many daughters have done nobly.
But you excel them all.
Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,
But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.”
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