• First, younger Christians can teach older Christians. Both Timothy and Titus were younger than those they were teaching, and in order to be effective, they also needed to be reverent in the way they lived (see 1 Tim. 4:12).
• Second, we should all be an example to our peers. Both Timothy and Titus were to be reverent in the way they lived so they could be an example to those who were basically their own age (see Titus 2:6-8).
• Third, wisdom normally increases as we grow older. In terms of Paul’s exhortation to Titus, he recognized how important it is for older, mature women to both model and train younger women to be Christlike in all of their relationships.
  Remember too that you are always older than some women in your life — younger sisters in your home, in your church and in your larger circle of friends. For example, you may be in high school. As an “older woman” you have the opportunity and responsibility to train a younger woman — say a junior high school student — to be a godly Christian. In other words, what Paul wrote to Titus about older women training younger women generally applies to all age levels.
  

A Tribute to a Very Special Woman

I (Gene) have received some resistance from my wife, Elaine, for including the following tribute, especially since she participated in writing this book. However, I feel this is one of those very rare occasions in our marriage when I’ve asked her to submit, even though she is reluctant. Anyone who knows her well also knows she is hesitant to talk about herself, whether it’s in our immediate family or within the family of God in general. However, this is not Elaine speaking; it’s her husband.

Elaine and I have been in the ministry together since our marriage in 1956 — nearly 50 years. For 20 of these years she served with me as a professor’s wife — 13 years at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and 7 years as a full-time professor at Dallas Theological Seminary. The rest of the time has been primarily as a pastor’s wife — serving alongside me in three churches where I was the founding pastor and senior leader. In all of these years, in the academic community as well as in the local church community, I have never heard one negative criticism come from her lips about either her lifestyle or her various leadership roles. The other elders and their wives with whom we have served over the years verify this observation! They have always had the highest respect for Elaine.

Is she a perfect woman — a perfect mother and perfect wife of a one-time professor and now a pastor? Not at all. Has she made mistakes? Of course. But in her humanness she has been reverent in the way she has lived! To this very day she has demonstrated that she is a woman “worthy of respect” (1 Tim. 3:11). She has a good reputation among believers and unbelievers alike.