How do you measure things? Do you use gallons, pints, cups, teaspoons, tablespoons, ounces, pounds, tons, inches, feet and miles? These are the kind of measurements we use in the USA. Other parts of the world use the metric system. These are meters, liters, kilograms, grams, and kilometers, etc. I do not know much about the metric system.
Different countries have different ways of measuring. It can be confusing to someone new visiting. If I were to bake a cake, I would need to know what standard to use. With God’s Word, we have one standard and one standard only, the Bible.
Isn’t it wonderful, we have one standard with the Word of God, the Bible? Even though it was written thousands of years ago, it is still timely. It took 1,600 years to write the whole Bible, the Old and New testaments. There were approximately 40 writers. Amazingly, there are no contradictions in the Scriptures. God gave us His Word, and He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. God’s Word does not change, and neither does He!
Unfortunately, man does change and has also tried to change the Bible. Therefore, we must be careful which translation we use. There are many so-called Bibles that teach false doctrines (e.g., Good News for Modern Man, NIV, paraphrases). Be careful to choose a reliable translation of the Bible (e.g., KJV, NKJV, ASV, ESV).
Those from the Reader’s Digest magazine went through the Bible and cut out what they did not want in it. So, now we have the Reader’s Digest Bible, too. God did not give them or any of us the privilege or the authority to condense the Bible. In Revelation 22:18-19, we are told not to add to or take away from the Word of God. Additional verses of Scripture throughout the Bible teach likewise.
Fortunately, for us, we have Christ and the steadfastness of His Word. Let us look at what the Bible says. Jesus built one church with His death on the cross. He told us this in Matthew 16:18. Upon Peter’s confession, that Christ was the Son of God, Jesus was to build His church. This church has always been in existence since it began on the day of Pentecost following the ascension of Jesus, in Jerusalem, when Peter and the other apostles preached the first Gospel sermon and about 3,000 souls were baptized (Acts 2:41, 47).
Here are some passages of Scripture that tell us there is one church or the body of Christ.
- Colossians 1:18 – Christ is the Head of the body, the church.
- 1 Corinthians 12:12 – The body is one and yet has many members.
- Romans 12:4-5 –There is one body but many members and many functions.
- Ephesians 1:22 – “He put all things under His feet, and gave Him as head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.”
- Romans 6:3-6 – We are baptized into the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.
- Ephesians 4:4-6 – “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
- Ephesians 5:23 – Christ is the head of the church, as the husband is the head of the wife (family).
How do you and I as Christian ladies, wives and mothers measure up? Are we faithful Christians? Does Christ see us as faithful? What does the world around us see?
We must be faithful to Christ and His church. Our main objective as Christians is to grow and become as strong and as faithful as we possibly can. We need to study (2 Timothy 2:15), we need to pray (1 Thessalonians 5:17), and we need to be faithful by giving of our lives for Christ (Revelation 2:10).
Teaching. Have we grown enough to be teachers? You may say, “No, I cannot teach.” I say, “Why not?” Your first obligation is to teach your children at home. I know you can do this. They are much younger than you. You know more Bible and everyday living more than these young ones.
I feel you can also teach ladies’ classes in your home congregations. You say, “No way.” I say, “Yes, way!” Why do I say this? These ladies are your family in the Lord, maybe your physical family, too, and they are your friends. You know God made us. We do not all know the same things, but we all know different things. We can all help each other learn. You don’t have to talk the whole class time. It is good to have open discussions in class. We can all learn from each other. We do not have the same thoughts on all subjects.
Sisters, here is an opportunity to help you and the church to grow. This is one way to be a great example for other sisters who do not feel they can teach. Bring them into class with you as a helper. Then, let them do the songs and later teach lessons to the little ones when they are ready. Please, do not push your helpers, but encourage them. Lady teachers are always needed to teach children’s classes. These young ones need and want Bible classes. They love to sing and to hear Bible stories. What do you think? I have much confidence in the ladies of the churches.
There needs to be a rotation of teachers who have been teaching for years, so all teachers have an opportunity to sit in an adult class and learn from others. We need to have the meat of the Word. While teaching young ones, we are teaching them the milk of the Word. You can volunteer to teach the young ones or ladies’ classes. This will help the church to grow. It will give the weaker Christians an example to follow.
We are told the older women are to teach the younger ladies. In Titus 2:1-5, the men are given instructions on behavior, and then, we ladies are instructed to teach the younger ladies. In verse 3, it says “likewise,” meaning for ladies to have the same qualities as are given to the men in this Scripture. We should all want to have good Christian characters and traits such as: sober, reverent, temperate, sound in the faith, to practice love and to have patience. We are told that we are to be reverent, in good behavior, not slanderers, not given to wine, teachers of good things, to admonish the younger ladies to love their own husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good and obedient to their own husbands.
So, ladies, how do we measure up? Are we working to grow in the Lord daily? It does not have to be something great, just something we have grown in a little. We take one step at a time when walking. Therefore, our growth should be one step at a time.