"The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness..." Titus 2:3
"How are we to live our lives as women with a high calling? Our calling is to godly behavior, to sacred behavior, to holy behavior. Our conduct must compliment our high calling in Christ."
"Can you fathom any higher calling than godliness? Any more important essential for godly living? Can you imagine any more wonderful way to spend your life and your time and your days and your moments than to spend them in the Lord, immersed in Him, looking to Him, desiring Him and the riches (and the richness!) of His grace above all that this poor world offers? You and I are above all others most blessed to possess such a glorious calling!"
In the first study, we looked at an example of godly behavior, and reviewed why the quality of godliness is so important in a woman of God's life. Now we will look at how we can apply the high calling of godliness and reverent behavior in daily life.
As we look at the fact that we are called to be reverent in behavior, shewing forth behavior that becometh holiness, I notice that God places a lot of emphasis on the exterior. Behavior. A common argument among women in the church can be summed up in the following few words: "Well, God knows my heart." While that is true, God does indeed know our hearts better than even we know our own hearts, God does invariably place a huge emphasis on how we are to act, behave, and even look on the outside. Why is this, do you think?
The author offers a very accurate explanation:
"You see, our behavior stems from a state of mind, from what's going on (or not going on!) in our inner [and spiritual] life, and God desires that the behavior of His women to be reverent, behavior mirroring an internal sacred character."
As one pastor writes: The word reverent "has the root meaning of being priest-like and came to refer to that which is appropriate to holiness."
Mrs. George goes on to explain:
"That's quite a start, isn't it? Words such as consecrated, holy, sacred, and worship speak loudly of a heart and mind set on our thrice-holy God and the worship of Him. Such a one has to have a soul preoccupied with God, a soul immersed in a constant state of worship of God, a soul completely consecrated to God. Such a soul... and such resulting behavior, would then certainly point others to God!"
As we saw in the illustration of the Canterbury cathedral in the first study, and the example of the godly and holy behavior exhibited by those who served and worshiped in the cathedral which in turn calmed, quieted, and pointed others towards the Holy God whom they served, holy behavior, has an irreplaceable effect on those around us.
If holy behavior in a church has this kind of effect, what kind of effect could this have if put into practice in our homes? If we, as wives and mothers, placed this high calling to godliness, holy behavior, at the tip top of our priorities, and sought it unrelentingly each and every day, what kind of an impact could this have on the husband and children whom we serve and train? What if you could use every word and action as a living testimony to the most high God?
"We are to walk through the minutes and the hours, the days and the decades, of our life as a priestess would walk through and serve in a temple. We must apply to all of daily life the reverent demeanor, the sacred conduct, and the holy behavior of a priestess in a temple."
See the story of Anna in Luke 2:36-38 for an example of a woman who lived her life in holy reverence of God.
How can we follow our calling to godliness, to reverent holiness, in our homes and daily lives?
1. Pray ~ Prayer will most definitely affect our behavior! The act of prayer brings our soul into direct contact with the God we worship and love, so it stands to reason that the more we pray, the more we're aware of the presence of the Lord, and the more we reflect His beauty and godliness to others.
2. Purpose ~ to be more aware of god's presence. "Worship is an inward reverence, the bowing down of the soul in the presence of God,... a solemn consciousness of the Divine, a secret communion with the unseen." J.H. Morrison. Purpose to develop a solemn consciousness of the Divine and to deliberately bow down your soul in His presence. That awareness and God's enablement will cause you to be reverent in behavior.
3. Praise the Lord! ~ Elizabeth George explains that if we are unsure of how to praise the Lord, or if life just seems so overwhelmingly troubled that we do not feel like we can praise the Lord, it is a good idea and practice to make a habit of reading aloud one Psalm per day. Then allow the Psalm to feed your heart so that your lips gush with praise and worship to the Lord. "You are to consider this [reading] of a psalm as a necessary beginning of your devotion, something that is to awaken all that is good and holy within you, that is to call your spirits to their proper duty, to set you in your best posture towards heaven and tune all the powers of your soul to worship and adoration. For there is nothing that so clears a way for your prayers, nothing that so disperses dullness of heart, nothing that so purifies the soul from poor and careless passions, nothing that so opens heaven, or carries your heart so near to it, as these songs of praise."
4. And praise Him some more! ~ Perhaps this should be our theme song as we seek to live our lives in purposeful, reverent and holy behavior:
"Fill thou my life, O Lord my God,
In every part with praise,
That my whole being may proclaim
Thy being and Thy ways.
Not for the lip of praise alone,
Nor e'en the praising heart,
I ask, but for a life made up
Of praise in every part."
5. Pick ~ a point for meditation. Thinking of a particular attribute of God, some act or teaching of Jesus, a promise from God's Word, or some calling from Scripture will tune your heart to the Lord.
6. Prize ~ your high calling to reverent behavior. Own your high calling! Prize it! Revel in it! And excel in it!
7. Plan ~ to act in ways that attract attention to the Lord rather than to yourself.
8. Ponder ~ your behavior and your choices, for by them you tell on yourself:
"You tell on yourself by the friends you seek,
By the very manner in which you speak,
By the way you employ your leisure time,
By the use you make of dollar and dime.
You tell what you are by the things you wear,
By the spirit in which your burdens bear,
By the kind of things at which you laugh,
By the records you play on he phonograph.
You tell what you are by the way you walk,
By the things of which you delight to talk,
By the manner in which you bear defeat,
By so simple a thing as how you eat.
By the books you choose from the well-filled shelves:
In these ways and more, you tell on yourself."
Next time: A Woman's High Calling to Godly Speech.
Blessings!
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