Day 321: Titus 2:1–3

Older women are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not addicted to much wine. They are to teach what is good (v. 3).

I wish I had the space to share about the older women who have mentored me as a Christian woman, wife, mother, and servant of God. If you are fortunate to have benefited from some godly mentors, you know that none of them were in your life accidentally. God brought you into their sphere of influence to fulfill His purposes. Paul, in his charge to older women, points out certain qualifications for a mentor to younger women.

1. Reverent in the way she lives. Her actions are to be those of a woman who respects God. Each of the women who have mentored me were quite different in personality, but they all shared one common denominator: their lives were replete with a reverence for God. Those I respect most are those who respect God.

2. Not slanderous. I believe older women may have more opportunities to remain active today than in Paul’s day. One of my eighty-three-year-old friends told me one day that she was too busy to die! Still, for some who have grown idle, slanderous talk can become a means to keep life interesting. Younger women struggle with temptation to slander too. Slanderous people thrive on conflict and division. The godly mentor sets an example by edifying others through her speech—rejoicing over their victories and hurting with them in defeat.

3. Not addicted to much wine. The original word for “addicted” is douloo, meaning “to enslave.” In Paul’s generation, wine was the primary substance to which a woman might become addicted. Today we could fill a grocery aisle with potentially enslaving substances. I have two very dear friends whose mothers were alcoholics. They still struggle with the painful results. So many people in our society are enslaved to different substances. Alcohol, prescription and nonprescription drugs, diet pills, sleeping pills, and illegal drugs are readily available to anyone the least bit desperate or vulnerable.

The general purpose for older women mentoring younger women is stated at the end of Titus 2:3: “to teach what is good” (hcsb). The original Greek word for “good” is kalos, which “expresses beauty as a harmonious completeness, balance, proportion.” Older women are to teach younger women about genuine beauty: God’s idea of a beautiful woman.