As I continue to study Titus 2:3-5, I see that young women need to be trained how to be kind:
“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. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God” (Titus 2:3-5, NIV).
The New King James Version words it as “good”:
“The older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed” (Titus 2:3-5, NKJV).
The Greek word for kind or good in these verses is agathos, and it means to do good for the benefit of others. You could substitute the word beneficial.
I like the word beneficial because it helps me see the action involved.
Sometimes I view kind as listening respectfully to someone, even if I disagree with her, without opening my mouth to correct her or try to influence her opinions. I don’t want her to think badly of me!
However, if I want to be beneficial to her, I need to help her correct her wrongs, in a loving way.
“Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season [when it’s popular and when it’s not]. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching” (2 Timothy 4:2).
“Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness…” (Galatians 6:1).”
On the other hand, sometimes I view good as just being a good, moral person. I don’t always want to go beyond just “good” to seeking out how to help others.
If I want to be beneficial to others, I need to go beyond morality to laying down my life for them.
“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:12-13).
In John’s third epistle, he describes someone who was not kind, good, or beneficial.
“I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us. So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, gossiping maliciously about us. Not satisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church” (3 John 1:9-10, NIV).
Note some thing about Diotrephes’ behavior:
- He loved to be first.
- He gossiped maliciously about others.
- He refused to show hospitality to the ministers of the gospel (see also 3 John 1:5-8).
- He exerted great pressure against others who were trying to show kindness.
I get it. Sometimes I think that life revolves around me. When pride clouds my vision, I can’t see the needs of others. People become a bother to me. I get frustrated with their needs, and I get tired of having to lay aside my agenda to care for them. I stop giving. I stop opening my home to them. I stop ministering. Even worse, I start to talk badly about them, just so that I will look better (or at least that’s what I think). It ends with bitter hatred creeping like poison into my heart, as I lash out in anger against them.
John continues,
“Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil (injurious to others) but what is good (beneficial). Anyone who does what is good (beneficial) is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God” (3 John 1:11).
Others. It’s what it’s all about!
P.S. The word good in Hebrew is tov, which has a rich meaning that is much the same. Of course! Read more here.
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture in this blog post taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture in this blog post taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Anne,
Like always we are thinking on the same page. I am so going to share this blog with my girls. We have been having a discussion about correcting others gently. One daughter thinks it is best to just listen quietly and not correct. Another thinks she needs to correct others every word and action. So, these verses you share will bea great addition to our discussion. That is if I can kindly share it withthem, so that they will benefit from listening to me.