rat-race-blogSo … what has God been teaching you lately?

How is He working in your life?

Is there an area within your Christian walk on which He seems to be honing? Squeezing a bit? Re-shaping some? Maybe even chiseling upon?

This is how it is for me: My life as a follower of Christ tends to be under constant correction and adjustment. It’s as if I go through these cycles in which God shows me an aspect of His will for me; I begin to spiritually “gnaw on” that revelation; and then, over the course of time, by His grace, my heart begins to desire that state of surrender, and then …. well, it’s on. I must make the choice. Will I choose daily to live in obedience and allow God’s plan to be fulfilled in me?

Well, here lately, this is the spiritual issue that God seems to be setting before me for its ingestion and implementation within my life:

The older women are to teach the younger women to be discreet.

Yep! You’ve read that before; haven’t you? That’s a truth outlined for us in Titus 2:5 (just incase you’re like me and often struggle with a passage’s address).

God has brought this reality before me recently, and my “gnawing” has begun. God’s plan for His woman is for her (that’s me) to be discreet. Discreet. That’s the King James word choice; other versions use sensible and self-controlled. But I had to know more. What exactly does this word mean? Discreet.

In the original language, we find sophron, the Greek word, being used, and a concise definition is contained therein. Sophron means to be temperate, self-controlled, sober, sensible, wise, and orderly. And we must remember that the noun form of discreet is discretion. With a bit of study and the Holy Spirit’s guiding, I believe, yet another of my imperfections has been uncovered.

Am I a discreet woman? Am I temperate? Sensible? Orderly? Is my life a picture of these character traits? Sadly, I must confess, there are many days I allow myself to be engulfed with a whirlwind of busyness, and with that compromise, I forfeit the discreet lifestyle that God has intended for me.

A whirlwind of busyness. Can you relate?

Here’s what society tells us as modern women: The busiest women are the most productive. The women that are the most “on-the-go” are the most successful.

Don’t you see that message being portrayed everywhere? The pressure is there. Our culture is, perhaps unintentionally, labeling the coolest women as those who have the most stuff going on. Society reveres the hippest moms, the savviest young careerist, and the chicest aging women as those women who are the busiest. It’s almost like a fad, a symbol of status, if you will. There is a pressure (although unspoken) for you and me to conform. Today’s woman is pressed to enter the rat race of go! go! go! And with that, our lifestyle of extreme busyness will earn us admiration within the eyes of others.

Oh, my friend, we have this all wrong. A Godly woman is discreet; she is orderly, sensible, sober, and wise. The temptation is certainly there for you and me to succumb to a manic pace of life, but the Bible states we are to be learning a sophron (Gk for discreet) way of living.

How are we to be women who are discreet?

Here’s the key: We are to exercise discretion.

With God’s direction, we are to discover a few passions and responsibilities that God has for us, and then we are to pursue those passions/responsibilities – and those passions/responsibilities only. God has used Elizabeth George to help me to see that God’s women are “to nurture a passion for the very few passions that God has called us to.”[i] And with a pledge to that pursuit, you and I will find ourselves becoming the discreet women of God that He has purposed us to be.

Being discreet involves discretion. As God’s women, we are to discover the passions He ordains for the investment of our individual lives.

I’m on journey currently. I’m treading through a spiritual inventory of my life. What is it that He has called me to? What responsibility has God specifically issued for me? What role am I to fill? What task or character trait am I to pursue in order to honor Christ? What few (and very few) passions has God set before me to nurture?

They are surfacing. Those few (and very few) responsibilities are being revealed. I’m beginning to see God’s plan (maybe a teeny piece of it) for my place in this world – in my marriage, in my church, in my family life, in Enough Grace Ministries.

My sister, I encourage you. Won’t you “gnaw on” this spiritual truth a bit? Do you need to withdraw yourself from the rat race of life?

The older women are to teach the younger women to be discreet.

We are to be women who are sophron: discreet, sensible, orderly, and temperate.

This spiritual ideal, being discreet, is non-existent in a life that is frenzied with countless passions, intentions, and obligations.

How about it, my sister? Are you growing tired of the Fast and Furious? Have you about had enough of the “running-around-like-a-headless-chicken” lifestyle? (Excuse the graphic imagery.) Is the appeal of being a “Go!Go!Go!-Woman” wearing off? I know I’ve had enough! Let’s take this Scriptural thought before the Lord and offer ourselves wholly to Him.

Lord Jesus, I’m listening. Clearly set before my spiritual eyes the passions you’ve ordained for me, and let me nurture those, pursue those, and be Your discreet woman.

[i] George, Elizabeth. A Woman’s High Calling: Ten Essentials for Godly Living. Harvest House: Oregon, 2001.