Adorning the Scripture *Part One*

I told you that I love Titus! And there are a ton of lessons we can learn from this tiny book! Here is part one of a little series we will start! 

Another passage in Titus is verse 10 where Paul encourages us whether male, female or lowly slave that whatever our lot in life, we can “adorn the Scripture.”

“…showing all good faith so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous of good works. Declare these things; exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.”

It is a mind-blowing thought to me that despite my obvious flaws, sinful nature, past, and general messiness, that according to this passage, His grace helps me to live godly and allows me to actually “dress-up” the very Word of God!!! Let’s look at the word, “adorn.”

Our English word, “adorn” comes from the Greek word “kosmeo” which means “to make beautiful, to decorate, dress; to put in order.” !!!!!

Whoever and wherever we are in life, if He is our Savior, then He has given us the grace and power (everything we need!!!) to adorn the scripture!!!! This totally gets me excited!!!

Can you imagine that you yourself can make God’s Words beautiful?!? Your very life can actually “dress-up” the Bible for the World around you?!? How cool is that?!?

Just mind-blowing!

So…you may be asking, “How do I adorn the scripture?” Well, I have laid out a few ideas! Here is the first one:

You can adorn the Scripture:

With Love

            1. First of all by Knowing God loves you! It isn’t enough to hope it or sing about it. Take Him at His Word and believe it! Believe that you are as loved as everyone else!

a. “We will never move forward in security until we believe we are loved deeply and completely.”-Beth Moore

b. Insecurity is its own form of pride. We are consumed with what people think, feel, and believe about US.

- “Feeling bad about ourselves is a way of doing penance, trying to pay for our sins by our own deeds or feeling.” The Search for Significance

                        c. “If a heart does not heal, it hardens.”-Beth Moore

d. How different would your day be if you woke up completely believing that you are deeply loved by God?

                                    -Ps. 40:4

Blessed is the man who makes
the Lord his trust,
who does not turn to the proud,
to those who go astray after a lie!
5 You have multiplied, O Lord my God,
your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;
none can compare with you!
I will proclaim and tell of them,
yet they are more than can be told.

e. “The extent to which you feel God’s love is dependant on your acceptance of God’s love for you.” The Search for Significance

f. “Other’s opinions of us either good or bad, cannot be the basis of a godly self-esteem. If their opinions of us are good, we are often led either to pride or to the fear of failing and losing that good opinion. If their opinions of us are negative, we may believe them and think that we can’t change. A good proper, and godly evaluation of ourselves comes from God’s Word-not other people.” The Search

           

2. By living a life of Selflessness because you properly understand what He has done for you.

                a. II Corinthians 9

6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 9 As it is written,

“He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.”

10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. 12 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. 13 By their approval of this service, they [6] will glorify God because of your submission flowing from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, 14 while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. 15 Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!

b. I Corinthians 13

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

                        c. Ephesians 5:1-2

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

                        d. “True Humility is an accurate appraisal of our worth in Christ. We deserved God’s righteous condemnation, yet we are the recipients of His unconditional love, grace, and righteousness through Christ. We are deeply loved, completely forgiven, fully pleasing, totally accepted, and complete in Him.

Thankfulness, generosity, kindness and confidence (in Him) constitute true humility.” The Search

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next few blog posts will cover other ways we can adorn the Scripture. But how are you doing with this one?

Do you truly believe that you are loved and adored by God? One of my all-time favorite verses is found in Zephaniah 3:17

“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty One Who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing.” !!!

If you are struggling with believing He loves you, then you need to ask Him to help you. Start searching out passages on His love, pray that God will reveal His love for you in a fresh way and memorize verses on the topic.

Are you loving those around you and loving selfless-ly because you understand what Christ went through for YOU?

More to come....

Love y'all!!!

Gina

Titus 2 Wants YOU! ;)

I LOVE the book of Titus-especially the second chapter where Paul lays out the standards and behavior of Christians in the church.

He reminds Titus to teach sound doctrine- doctrine that holds up with the rest of God’s Word, not just what was culturally acceptable, and not to allow false doctrine in. He goes through a list of what should be coming out of the lives of the older men who profess Jesus: 

 Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness.

(Titus 2:2 ESV)

He goes on to talk about the older women: (this is one of my favorite parts! ;)

Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

(Titus 2:3-5 ESV)

I love that Paul says the elder women should be training the younger women! I know that might seem funny, but wait until you are raising children, cooking meals, trying to keep a house clean, love your family, serve God, balance the budget and have a never ending list of to-do’s, and still have a smile on your face at the end of the day! J I need training! J We all do! Some of us are blessed enough to get a good training at home from their mothers, and grandmothers before they ever get married. Others of us have grand ideas of what it will be like to run our own homes and have a fabulous husband and amazing children and the dream job! And I am not saying it isn’t the coolest thing in the world to have all that-it is! I would rather be a stay-at home mom with my own home, husband, and kids than anything else in the world! It is a dream! But it is also work and it isn’t easy. It takes determination, skills, intelligence, organization, self-control and love! Hence where Titus 2 comes in…as part of the body of Christ, you have someone you can minister to whether you are 5 or 95! There is always someone younger than you that you can encourage, teach something to, model a characteristic of Christ for and pray for…there is someone that even you can “train.”

But on the flip side of that, we also NEED training! J And who better to receive training from than a godly older woman in your church?!? Whether the problem is a question you have about the Bible, a sin you are struggling with, some advice for a situation you are in, some prayer you need or some tips for keeping your closet organized, there should be a godly woman somewhere that can help you out!

 "Where there is no guidance, a people falls,

but in an abundance of counselors there is safety."

Proverbs 8:17

Our God-given parents are to be our first set of counselors. Even if they don’t believe in Christ or live for Him they way they should, they are still more experienced than you and want what is best for you. Occasionally parents give bad advice but as long as it doesn’t go against God’s Word, God will bless your submission and obedience to them. No body is perfect and they are who God gave you…He knows why and why it is best for you. J

Even still, it is sound wisdom to surround yourself with people who are going to encourage you to go the right direction! With people who will be honest with you and will tell you what is right-even if you don’t always want to hear it. ;)

You will not regret asking for advice and being accountable to someone who loves you and loves the Lord. You just won’t. Godly advice and encouragement saves from a lot of heartbreak and baggage!

I am desperate for more women in my life who will “teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, submissive to their own husbands, that the Word of God may not be reviled.”

I have women that I go to for advice, counsel and training from California to North Carolina! It is good to have a variety of godly women in your life because

            1. We are all gifted differently! I might ask one woman for prayer but she wouldn’t be able to help me keep a cleaner house. Or one woman might know my sin issues or background more than another, etc. We all have different talents and gifts to be used in the church. So find different women that can meet different needs!

          2. When you have a variety of godly women in your life, it is less likely that you will develop an unhealthy attachment to one woman. You don’t want to put someone in the position where you NEED her and they need to fill the holes in your heart that only Christ can fill. You will drain the life out of her and sooner or later she will let you down because she is only human. It happens. Now, if you don’t have any godly women in your life that can be your advisors/prayer warriors (let’s just call them Titus 2 Women) it is perfectly fine to start with one! Pray about it and get out there! But don’t stop at just one. There are many, many women in the church for a reason. J

        3. We live in a very very busy society! It is also a good idea to have a ‘multitude of counselors” or Titus 2 Women because people are busy like never before! I know the Titus 2 Women I can call whenever, the Women I can call in an emergency, or the Women that I can let know I need some help and they would schedule a coffee date or phone call with me in a couple of days.

Now after this I may sound kind of needy! It may sound like I have a hundred or so women in my life at my beck and call! ;) Not exactly the way it works…but it is ok that I need training! God’s Word says so! God does not expect me to be perfect, know everything, and make all the right decisions all the time! He gave us His Word and each other to learn from. And we are fulfilling God’s call when we become Titus 2 Women to the younger ladies in our life! I love that by asking for help and advice, I am allowing an older woman to be a blessing to me and obedient to God! Just good stuff!!!

I also love that I may have experience, advice and encouragement for some of the younger gals in my life that I can use to bless them and be obedient to Him! It is part of what makes being a youth pastor’s wife awesome!!! I LOVE when someone asks me to pray for them or asks for help or advice. It is part of being a Christian and part of the Church. It is FABulous!

Make time to be trained and be a trainer! Make sure your heart is humble enough to seek counsel and then take it if it isn’t what you want to do. Be teachable. Ask God for wisdom-He promises to give wisdom to those who ask for it! Love the younger women in your life-you were once in their shoes! Remember the hard things about that age and stage of life and ask God to help you encourage them.

And always, always be learning and preparing to be a “keeper of the home.” You will be a wife and mother and home-keeper before you know it! Be preparing now. J Don’t forget that I am here to help in any way I can. And most-importantly, be in God’s Word. It is what changes us, cleanses us, gives us wisdom and helps us through every day, triumph and trial. You aren’t going anywhere if you aren’t in His Word.

Love y’all!

Gina