Teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. (Titus 2:3–5)
This is one of my favorite passages of Scripture. In fact, I consider it my life verse. There's lots of good stuff in there, and we could dedicate weeks to dissecting Titus 2 on the blog. But for the next few days I want to focus on one specific principle outlined in this passage—the value of women teaching women. Specifically, I will challenge to you find a mentor and be a mentor. I'll even introduce you to my mentor. She's been a huge part of my life for almost 15 years.
Titus 2 certainly isn't the only passage where mentoring is mentioned in God's Word. There are other places where it's called discipleship or teaching, but the concept of being intentional about learning from other believers who are older and wiser than you is woven throughout the Bible.
In today's post, I am going to assume that you are the younger women mentioned in Titus 2:4. I'm not insulting your age, wisdom, or maturity. But the truth is that all of us are younger than some of the women around us. According to this passage, what is the responsibility of the younger woman? To be taught and trained.
It is your job as a Christian young woman to seek out the wisdom and guidance that older women have to offer. It's their job to give you godly counsel based on God's Word. (It's also your job to do this for girls who are younger than you. We'll get to that in my next post.)
Does it have to be an older woman? Isn't the advice and encouragement of your Christian peers enough? I don't think so. This passage is clear—older women are to live according to God's Word so that they can teach younger women to do the same. That means younger women are to look to the older gals around them for guidance.
Having Christian friends is awesome. I hope that you are surrounded by Christian friends who help you to strengthen your walk with Christ. But there are unique lessons to be learned by women who have already walked the miles you have not.
So my challenge to you is to purposely seek out a godly older woman to be your mentor. I think you'll get a clearer picture of what mentoring can look like as we continue to talk about this subject this week, but your first step is to seek out the kind of woman mentioned in Titus 2 and start spending time with her. Not sure where to start? What about your pastor's wife, your youth pastor's wife, or a friend's mom who clearly lives her life for the Lord? If no one immediately comes to mind, commit the matter to prayer. Ask God to help you find the kind of woman mentioned in His Word.
You may already have a mentor. I was fortunate to begin spending time with my mentor very shortly after I accepted Christ at the age of 15. I can't tell you the difference having a mentor during my teen years made on my life. She held me accountable in areas where I was struggling with sin, exposed me to truth using God's Word, and helped me pursue a future that was grounded in God's will for my life. What a blessing!
If you already have a mentor, praise God for her! And please, tell us about it. I would love to hear about the impact your mentors are having on your lives.
If you don't yet have a mentor, please consider this blog post a call to action. I would be happy to try to answer specific questions about mentoring if you have them. But your responsibility is to realize the value in having and being a mentor and to seek out a mentor relationship with an older, godly woman. Get to it!