Take a walk alongside the faithful

“Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.” Titus 2:3-5

Has it ever occurred to you that God has given you all that you need to pursue a life of godliness, righteousness, and worship of His Son Jesus Christ? No, seriously, do you feel adequately equipped for the call to be a follower of Jesus? Do you have what you need in your life to walk victoriously in freedom and experience continual growth in your relationship with the Lord? Are you becoming increasingly more like Christ?

These are some very important questions that I believe go unasked for many of us. We go through life shouldering the unnecessary burden of religious legalism, this mentality that we must be “good” and do “good” in order to achieve and maintain a constant flow of grace and forgiveness in our lives. I would challenge that thinking today with this: where in God’s Word do you find evidence or truth to back up that way of thinking? Grace is not earned or deserved; it’s freely given. And in order to live the abundant life in Christ and experience growth and change in our lives, I believe that God’s Word has given us some wise instruction on how to do so. So, allow me to pose this question to each of you:

“Are you walking alongside the faithful?”

Some of you may be thinking, “Cherie, what are you talking about?” Let me explain. When I was in college, I had the privilege of being mentored by an incredible woman of faith name Christie. She is close to ten years older than I am, and she played a very significant role in my walk with the Lord. I would meet with her about once a week, and we would study God’s Word together. She would ask me challenging questions to get me thinking about why I believe what I believe. She often challenged the decisions I was making to ensure that my path was headed towards righteousness. Over the years that I gleaned wisdom from her, God used her in my life to show me more of Himself. She was a tool in His hands used as a compass in my life, constantly pointing me towards Jesus. Our relationship turned into one of friendship over the years, but I know that she is and always will be someone that I can turn to for prayer and godly wisdom.

Since my college years, the Lord has brought a number of older, faithful women into my life that have helped mold and shape me into the woman I am to become. One in particular is my dear friend and prayer partner, Denise. She is a living, breathing, walking, spitting-image of Jesus in my life. Her passion for Jesus and her sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s leading has on more than one occasion caused me to push the pause button in my own life and get on my knees to seek the Lord. She models the description of Titus 2 to me and many others, and without women like her and Christie in my life over the past several years, I can only imagine that the journey would have been harder.

God blessed me with both of these ladies and numerous others by their example of faithfulness in a world that so often seems faithless. They have helped me navigate the messy waters of life and ministry. Walking alongside of them has done much to increase my own faith and trust in the Lord, and in many ways this walk alongside of them has shown me how to do the same in the lives of those that will come after me.

Like you, I presume, I want to be faithful. I want my life to please the Lord. I want to be obedient to Him and His Word, and I want to rest in the pasture of His blessings. Part of that is the obedience of choosing to walk alongside the faithful. Do you have someone like that in your life? If not, what have you done to seek out the faithful and to place yourself in their path? This will only benefit you. It will only spur you on to deeper and richer places with the Lord. Take a walk alongside the faithful, and when you do and you begin to see yourself becoming more faithful, choose then to be “the faithful” in someone else’s life. Find a Titus 2 woman, and then be one for someone else.