As Paul the apostle
continued to give Timothy instructions concerning women who were
widows within the church of Ephesus, he told him how to discover a
“widow indeed” and to “refuse younger women”
who were widows because they would “bring damnation” upon
themselves “for when they have begun to wax wanton against
Christ, they will marry;”. In chapter five and verse thirteen
of his letter to Timothy, Paul included more traits and tendencies of
widows who were younger where we read:
And withal they learn
to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and
not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things
which they ought not.
The verse begins, “And
withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from
house to house;” Paul begins
this list of traits of younger widows with, “And withal”
which means “at once, at the same time and together” “they
learn” or “are apprised,
increased in knowledge and informed” “to be idle”
which means “free from labour, at leisure, lazy and shunning
the labour which one ought to perform”. Paul added, “wandering
about” or “going about, strolling, navigating and making the
circuit” “from house to house” which refers to “the
residences and places of abode of different people”. In other
words, rather than being busy with activities of the family or of the
church, these younger widows will have time on their hands and be so
inactive that they will have a tendency to go from house to house as
a “gadabout”.
The verse goes on to say, “and
not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies,”
In addition to being “idle”
and “wandering”,
Paul repeats and adds to being idle when he wrote, “and
not only idle” or “free from
labor, at leisure, lazy and shunning the labor which one ought to
perform” “but tattlers also”
which means “persons uttering or doing silly things, garrulous,
babbling, foolish, trifling and vain” “and busybodies”
or “busy about trifles and neglectful of important matters,
especially busy about other folks' affairs, impertinent and
superfluous”. The younger widows would be prone to go about telling
other folks business and flitting from station to station and person
to person with the latest gossip and superfluous news.
Finally
the verse says, “speaking things which they ought not.”
As though the traits of being “idle, wandering, tattlers and
busybodies” wasn't enough, Paul added, “speaking things
which” or “talking
about, uttering and using their tongues to tell” “they
ought not” which means
“unnecessary, not behoved and not needed”. In other words, the
younger widows would tend to have so much idle time and activity they
would be prone to go about saying things they should not be saying.
When
we think through these words of Paul, we can understand why he took
so much time with Timothy concerning “widows”
within the church. “Wanderers”,
“tattlers” and
“busybodies” are
not good for any church never mind if they are within a group such as
“younger widows”
who have time on their hands to promote such things. Because “idle”
time becomes a stimulus for “laziness” and “gossip”, Paul
warned Timothy to keep not only the church from such activities, but
also “younger widows”
from “damnation”
for themselves. We might wonder how this relates to us, and an
examination of ourselves would once again be proper at this point.
Are we as these “younger widows”
tend to be? Do we have “idle”
time on our hands that leads to “wandering”
from house to house or station to station just to “tattle”,
be a “busybody” or
“speaking things”
we “ought not”? If
we find ourselves guilty in any of these areas, let us go before our
Savior Jesus and allow Him to cleanse all these wicked ways from our
lives just as Paul desired Timothy do for the church.
Next
time Paul shares what younger women are to do, so read ahead, and we
shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow…there is more…
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be
Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the
Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com
; http://www.barnesandnobles.com
; download to e-books, and find it locally at
http://www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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