A Mother's Work Is Never Done

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I don’t know what it is about people, but we’re always looking for the time in our lives when things are going to get easier. The same is true with mothers. First, you think, if I ever get through with this pregnancy, it’ll be a lot easier. Then come night feedings and colic and croup. Then you think, “Well, when the baby can walk and gets potty trained, things will be easier.” Yeah, right. It’ll be easier when they can start fending for themselves a little bit and learn to do some things on their own. Maybe it’ll be easier when they get their license and can haul themselves around. Maybe when they go off to college things will be easier. What about when they are married with kids of their own. Surely then it will be easier. Any of us who have gone through those cycles know that it never gets any easier. The fact is that a mother’s work is never really done.

The passage that we just read is taken from a letter that Paul wrote to a young church planter in Crete by the name of Titus. The letter is full of instructions about how he should go about planting churches throughout that island. Paul doesn’t go into a whole lot of specific detail about church life and Christian living like he does in his other letters. What he does is focus on two things. First, he focuses Titus on the importance of right doctrine. In other words, he makes sure that Titus doesn’t get sidetracked as to the centrality and sufficiency of Scripture in the church. That’s the foundation. But how does the truth of Scripture get taught? That’s the second main focus of this letter. Paul talks about the importance of Titus selecting the right kind of pastors and elders and how they are to stand firm on the Word of God. That makes sense. Even today, when we plant churches, we tend to concentrate on the pastor and church leadership. But what we don’t tend to focus on is the next point of emphasis in this letter. Paul moves straight from talking about pastors and elders to talking about women in the church. And in the passage that we just read, he tells Titus that women have a very important role in the church. As a matter of fact, you can look at it like this: the most important thing that Paul told Titus to focus on in the church is the faithful teaching of Scripture. And then he told him that three groups of people are responsible for doing that faithful teaching. Pastors, elders, and the older women. Does that surprise you? It shouldn’t. You’ve heard the old saying that the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world, right? Although as men, we are called to be the spiritual head of our household, we know that nothing will ever surpass a mother’s teaching to her children. From the time she first sings to her children in the womb, a mother is teaching them. But then the children grow up. They get to the age when they won’t listen to anyone. Does the teaching stop then? What about when they move out and get married and have kids of their own. Does the teaching stop then? No, the fact is that a mother’s work is never done. The approach is certainly different. The relationship is certainly different. But the teaching is the same. How is the teaching done? In your behavior. The word translated “as becometh holiness” is an interesting one. It’s a compound word. He combined the word for “temple”