What Difference Would This Mindset Make?

 By Jessica Edwards

When I was a child, oh how I dreaded Saturday evenings! Mom would make me

take a bath, wash my hair, and often she would make me sleep in plastic curlers just so I would look extra special for the next day.

Why did my mom think it was important to do extra preparation on Saturday night? Because the next day was Sunday, the Lord’s Day, and it was important to look and smell my best. I even had special shoes and clothes just for Sundays and going to church.

    In Titus 2:3-5, Paul lays out for young Pastor Timothy, the curriculum for women’s ministry in the local church. One of the first things Paul says about the women in vs. 3 is that “they be in behavior as becometh holiness” (KJV), “to be reverent in behavior” (ESV), or my favorite translation “in deportment as doth become sacred persons”. (YLT)

Hmm, “in deportment as doth become sacred persons”... That’s a mouthful, and we certainly don’t talk that way anymore, but what Paul is saying to the women is they need to be living their lives as if they are in church, as if they are in the presence of Jesus at all times, as if they are living life as one of the sacred priests of the temple in Bible days. Think about that. 

What if we truly lived at all moments as if we were in the very presence of Jesus? 

Isn’t that what we believe, He is with us all of the time? What difference would it make in my life to think of Jesus sitting next to me on the couch watching what I watch on TV or Netflix, or as I browse on my computer? What difference would it make if I knew He was reading the same things I was reading or listening to? What difference would it make if Jesus was sitting in the passenger seat of my car as I say nasty things about the drivers around me? What difference would it make if He heard my conversations with my girl friends or sister or mom? What difference would it make in how I interact with or speak to my husband (or ex husband) or children? What difference would it make in my workplace in how I treat my coworkers or boss?

 

What difference would it make if Jesus knew my very thoughts?

God calls us as women to be different. He calls us to live lives of holiness and reverence. Thankfully, I do not have to rely on my own strength and power to accomplish what He is calling me to do. God has given His Holy Spirit “Who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Eph. 3:20)

Press on, sister, put on your “Sunday clothes”, and behave as one who is in the very presence of Jesus!

Jessica Edwards is a wife and homeschool mom who loves Jesus and His Word. She lives in the beautiful north Georgia mountains where you can find her hiking or trying to grow veggies in her vegetable garden.