Bible Truths – “I’m Not Needed Anymore”

“The aged women likewise…that they may teach the young women…”  Titus 2:3,4

More than once, I have heard an older woman despair because she feels like she is no longer needed.  Her kids and grandkids are grown.  Her husband may have passed on, as well.  She is not able to do all the things, physically, that she once was.  The world seems to have moved on.

Our society feeds this notion.  We glorify youth and marginalize the elderly.  The world, many times even our churches, are looking for ‘new’, ‘fresh’ ideas, instead of time-tested wisdom.

This is not God’s plan, however.  Our elders are to be cherished and respected.  Our elders have an important role to play in the body of Christ.  They are to teach the younger generation.

What are they to teach?  The Godly wisdom that they have learned from the Bible and their elders.  They are to teach the younger women “to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.” (Titus 2:4,5)  Where else is this being taught?  What does it look like to love your husband?  What does it mean to love your children?  As one who has done it and has seen the fruit of her labor, an older woman is able to teach from experience.

An older woman has a job to do.  It is a vital one.  She must find younger women who are looking for guidance and wisdom and teach them.  This is God’s pattern.

Younger women need to also take heed to God’s plan.  Find an older woman who exhibits “behaviour becoming holiness” (Titus 2:3).  Ask her for help.  Ask her opinions.  Ask her to teach you.  We, as Christians, are not in this alone.  God has given us each other to: “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” (Gal 6:2).

As God’s dear children, let us never think that we are no longer needed.  “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” (Eph 2:10)  As long as God Almighty has us on this earth, He has works for us to do.  Let us seek to work for Him all our days!

Pastor Lee Smith