Mentoring Women

now, I want all of us who are younger than 60 to put into practice the teaching of Leviticus 19:32: “Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the LORD.” Let’s stand and show our respect by giving them a hand.

While our culture communicates that older women are washed up and have nothing to offer, Scripture teaches that God has a wonderful design for senior saints. In Titus 2, Paul challenges Titus to teach them…

A Pattern to Follow (3)
A Plan to Implement (4a)
Principles to Convey (4b-5a)
A Perspective to Keep (5b)
1. A Pattern to Follow. In verse 3, older women are given a pattern to put into practice: “Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.” According to how this idea is used in 1 Timothy 5:9, an older woman is someone who is older than 60. And yet, as we learned last week, the term “older” is relative, meaning simply someone who is “older” than someone else. Titus is to teach them to live out four things in their lives.


Be consistently reverent. This word is used only here in the entire Bible and means to be like a “priestess.” Reverent women are the kind of people who have access to the Almighty, who enter His holy presence on a regular basis. The best example of a woman like this is found in Luke 2:37, where we read about Anna, who was 84-years-old. It is said of her that she never left the temple because she was so committed to serving through fasting and prayer. She’s a great example to emulate, for in her mid-80s she was a worshipper. This kind of woman is highly respected for her reverence. People know that she’s close to Christ and therefore want to be close to her.
Older women are to be reverent in the “way they live,” or as the King James puts it, they are to have “behaviour as becometh holiness.” In the Old Testament, the priest went into the Holy Place to burn incense to the Lord and when he returned the fragrance was still on his clothes. Likewise, godly women emit a glow, or a fragrance of faithfulness. This phrase includes a reference to dressing decently. Worshiping women were to dress properly on the outside and be adorned with holiness within. 1 Peter 3:3-5 says, “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful.”

Author Lois Mowday Rabey calls them, “Women of a generous spirit. These life-giving women fill up and give out in ways that nourish themselves and give life to others. They know God, believe Him, and live a faith-filled life” (“Women of a Generous Spirit,” Page 7).

Be careful with words. Next, older women must strive to not be slanderers. This is the Greek word diabolos, which is translated as “devil” 34 times in the New Testament. Satan is the supreme slanderer as Revelation 12:10 states: “…for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” The word slander paints a vivid picture. It literally means, “to throw between.” Just as Satan threw lies to Eve, the devil’s game plan