A woman’s place is in the home
My dear neighbor posted a sign in her yard that says: “A Woman’s Place is in the Resistance.” The sign faces my house so I’m drawn to it every time I go outside or pull into our driveway, and it has sparked so much thought. Is our place in the resistance? What does that even mean? Where is the place of a woman? What about a Christian woman who is a wife and mom? I’m convinced by God’s Word that our place is actually in the home.
Following God’s call on your life
God tells the church in Titus 2, “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.”
Wives and mothers play many roles and can do many things, but we’re clearly called by God to be and do these things.
In a recent interview I asked Danna Stinson, wife to Dr. Stinson of Southwestern Baptist Seminary, “How have you remembered the call to missional motherhood throughout your many years of parenting?”
She told me, “I don’t depend on the applause of my family but I constantly remind myself that God has called me to these things: to respect my husband, to raise my children and to care for my home. I am never more like Christ than when I am serving. My aim is to please Him.”
Did you hear that? Her ability to persevere faithfully comes from her conviction that God has called her to these roles and responsibilities. That response has changed my life.
Dying to ourselves
Until now, I felt that I was a stay-at-home mom because I wanted to be, which meant that the way I spent my time depended on my own desires and will. I treated cleaning my house like a hobby, working at it when I pleased (which was rare). I treated God’s call to raise my children as a choice that I made, which meant that how we spent our days and how I trained them (or didn’t train them) was up to me. Loving and respecting my husband was also my choice, which means that he has often taken the brunt of my arrogance and overbearing expectations.
This is all wrong.
Jesus tells us very plainly that to follow Him we must die to ourselves and pick up our crosses (See Luke 9:23 and Matt. 16:24). I’ve always wondered what that meant. I’m learning that it’s both simple and difficult – He calls me to die all day long.
I die to myself in order to love my husband and children by becoming a servant to all. I pick up my cross when I work at home instead of spending time on other meaningful or meaningless things. I die to myself by submitting to my husband and by practicing self-control, purity and kindness when I’d rather insist on my own way or give into the desires of my flesh.
Most of us won’t die as martyrs for God’s Kingdom, but He calls us to die a thousand deaths that His Word may not be reviled. But don’t lose heart! It was for the joy set before Him that Christ endured the cross, and I can assure you, sister, that there is abundant joy to be found in picking up your cross, too.
A heart priority, not a physical location
Please don’t mishear me. I’m not aiming to discuss whether or not women should work outside of the home, how many hours per day should be spent within the walls of our houses, who should complete which household tasks, how much screen time is permissible for our kids or if we should have hobbies. There is much freedom for the Christian!
Being focused on your home is as much a matter of the heart as it is a matter of your physical presence. One can be physically in the home but distracted, disobedient and destructive. On the contrary, a mom who works outside of the home can still obey God by loving her home and prioritizing her family.
Mamas, let’s ask ourselves: where are our hearts? Is your heart fixed on your God-given earthly home in preparation for your eternal home in heaven? Or is your heart somewhere else?
After a quick online search, I learned that the resistance that my neighbor’s sign refers to aims to rally women in a fight for several things that Christian women ought to lovingly and boldly reject. But that doesn’t mean we’re coasting. In fact, the Titus 2 woman daily resists our culture’s philosophy that women are most fulfilled outside of the home by demonstrating to the world that God values homes and families SO HIGHLY that He calls capable, intelligent, strong, talented women to forsake many earthly opportunities and focus our hearts on our homes.
Katlynne Mirabal is a pastor’s wife, serves as the children’s ministry director at Seacoast Community Church in Portsmouth, NH. Katlynne is also the host of the Miss Teacher Mom podcast, which endeavors to encourage and equip moms to raise their kids with eternity in mind.