Learning How to Be Grave

When I read Scripture, I often have to read it more than once. I may need to ponder on the passage, pull out a dictionary, peruse the Strong’s Concordance, pray to ask God for wisdom, and put my own thoughts aside to comprehend the message being taught. Titus 2 is one of the chapters I have to ponder. It’s rich with instructions, responsibilities and purpose. Just when I think I understand a Bible word, I dig a little deeper and find I have a skewed understanding. Such was the case with the word, “grave” found in verse two. While I might have stated the dictionary definition as being, “significantly serious,” I found the Greek definition for the word in the Titus passage to be quite different. Let’s take a look.

As we continue our study about how aged men and women are to behave, we see that the next instruction after, “be sober” is to be “grave.” The Greek definition in the Strong’s Concordance defines it like this:

God not only wants us to live as sober examples before others, He wants us to be grave too. This kind of honor is earned, not just for our numerical age, but for the behavior and accomplishments which come with experience, character, learning, and developing the knowledge and skills we gain on our life’s journey.

Being Spiritually Grave

The deacon’s wife role is a perfect example of why God wants us to live spiritually, honorable lives. If her husband is to hold the office of a deacon, she must be grave in her behavior,

This requirement applies to all women, but a deacon’s wife must faithfully live by this standard for her husband to qualify for this task. God desires everyone to follow His instructions and expects leaders to be exemplary patterns of those behaviors.

Sadly, many men can’t or don’t receive positions of honor because their wives and families behave dishonorably. While that can go both ways, we’re only responsible for how we behave. We never want to be the reason God chooses not to use our husbands for His work.

Being Physically Grave

Honor doesn’t come easy. Living an honorable life is a daily spiritual and physical battle. Inevitably, someone will show us dishonor because they don’t know what kind of person we really are and others may know us too well. People will distrust and disrespect us. No matter what people think of us or how badly they treat us, we’re still instructed to live grave lives.

It’s easy to read the Bible, breeze by what’s being taught, and miss how it can educate, encourage, exhort, and edify us. However, we shouldn’t be satisfied with reading what the Scripture teaches, we should let it sink in and mold us into the honorable lives God wants us to live.

Bring It Home

Are we living grave (honorable) lives or do we need to make adjustments in our behaviors?

Praying for you as we grow together,

Smiles, BRC