More Guidelines For Young Widows and Marriage

145 - Today's Prime Time Devo comes from 1Ti 5:14,15, “Therefore I desire that the younger widows marry, bear children, manage the house, give no opportunity to the adversary to speak reproachfully. 15 For some have already turned aside after Satan. (1 Tim 5:14,15) “Therefore.” Always look back a couple of verses when you see that word in Scripture and see what the “therefore” is “there for!” These “younger widows,” in the preceding verses had cast aside their faith and sought the pleasures of the world. They desired to look outside the bounds of Christ for their marital partners and fulfillment. (There are strict requirements in accordance with God's Word in the matter of remarriage.) In addition, many with the new found free time available to them upon the death of their spouse wasted their time in becoming gossips and busybodies speaking things which they should not. So the Holy Spirit, speaking through Paul urges these young widows to follow a different course. He urges them first of all by inference to guard their faith in Christ. Desire to continue to follow Christ! Weymouth's New Testament puts it this way, “don't chafe against the yoke of Christ,” keep following Him! And if in following Christ, the opportunity arises to remarry, the widow is free to take advantage of the opportunity in accordance with the Word of God. In addition she is encouraged to fulfill her role then in the marriage, chief of which is to bear children should the Lord bless in such a way, and she is to take on the all important role of managing the house. Rather than casting aside all restraints of body and mouth, and basically giving herself over to Satan, she is to seek to remain under Christ and become that Proverbs 31 woman. Take the time to read Prov 31:10-31 and you will see what I mean. Who could possibly speak against such a woman? There is a great deal to be said about utilizing the God-given skills of a woman in this context, but don't use this text as a sledgehammer. Let all married men and women work out their marriage as best they can, always seeking to allow the Holy Spirit to teach and guide through the Scriptures, bringing glory to God!