“The aged women likewise…
“That they may teach the young women
to be sober, to love their husbands,
to love their children, To be discreet, chaste,
keepers at home…”
Titus 2:3a-5a
What is it about home that makes us want to leave it when we’re there and yearn to get back to it when we’re away? That’s a dilemma I’ve pondered since becoming a wife and homemaker. I’ve heard women with jobs say they wish they could stay home. I’ve heard other women say that staying home drives them crazy, while some actually enjoy it. I’ve watched children grab their mother’s hands and beg to go home from shopping trips and endless activities. Running the roads may seem like an unchangeable norm today, but Scripture reveals a different take that instructs us to be “keepers at home” and to teach that lifestyle to the younger generation.
In our society, it’s common for women to work, and many don’t have a choice. However, few women want to choose a career path that keeps them away from their homes and families forty to sixty plus hours each week to live overworked and overwhelmed lives.
We’ve been told, “Women can have it all.” But, we weren’t told the cost for getting it, and, unfortunately, women are paying dearly. Absence from home is taking a toll, and many women are getting burned out. Homes are in disarray. Diets are poor. Health is bad. Families are growing apart. Marriages are broken. Children are wayward. Budgets are blown and stability, security and solace are scarce.
Sadly, the term “keeper at home” has often been misconstrued. As Christian women, we can’t let secular trends and cultural precedence, politics, and preferences set the standard for our lifestyles instead of God’s Word. God isn’t saying we have to stay in the kitchen barefoot and pregnant. In fact, the Bible mentions many women who had roles outside the home, like Queen Esther, and the Proverbs 31 woman for example. Look at what “keeper” means in the Titus 2 passage:
Keeper Greek #3626 oikouros
a stayer at home, that is, domestically inclined (a “good housekeeper”)
Staying home isn’t a punishment for subservient, shallow, sheltered, or spoiled women who can’t or don’t want to hold a job. However, it’s difficult to be “domestically inclined” and be away from home every day. Even hiring help requires that you be present mentally or physically to manage homemaking tasks.
Staying home and putting our homes and families first takes sacrifices, like giving up activities or limiting spending. Even if we think we can do it all, to have it all, (which very few can without help) we need to consider what God says works best and live in the serenity of His grace.
Busyness is not next to godliness. We don’t have to fill every minute of our day avoiding the place we work so hard to acquire, furnish and live in. While things of the world may draw us away from home, our hearts and heads should draw us back. A visual reminder to stay home is to purposely keep the keys on the hook and the car in the driveway.
As older women we must teach the younger women how to be keepers at home. We must help set the pace. Taking up residence in our residences more often, caring for them better, and enjoying and sharing the blessings benefits everyone we love.
Bring It Home
Would you say you are “domestically inclined?”
Praying for you as we grow together,
Smiles, BRC
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