Young Women and Discretion

“The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness…That they may teach the young women to be sober…To be discreet, chaste…that the word of God be not blasphemed.”—Titus 2:3-5

IN the fifth verse of the second chapter of Titus the aged women are to teach young women “to be discreet.” What does it mean to be discreet? It means to be prudent, judicious, cautious; wise in conduct and management, especially as to matters of propriety and self-control. A young woman who measures up to these qualities in mind, heart, soul, spirit and life, certainly rises above the degrading principles of sin and wickedness. Her life is one of nobility, beauty, usefulness and sublimity. She sets examples before her husband, children, and neighbors that are worthy of emulation. They know her life is hid with Christ in God. She possesses the Spirit of our Lord, and this enables her to discern between the evil and the good, and to avoid evil, error, and anything and all things that would mislead her. She likewise shields her husband and children from evils and errors, sins and wickedness, that they are environed with. At least she warns and cautions them against such, and shows them the higher, better, holier, and more beautiful and worthwhile things in life.

The discreet woman is possessed with the spirit and ability to adopt “means to an end,” and of course this means that which bring her and the family to a good end. She avoids the means that would injure her life, character, soul, and influence, and that would likewise injure her family and those about her. She must realize that what she takes into her life will have its effect, through the years—and will bring her to a good end, only as the means are good. She knows that good will work out right, while the bad will work out wrong. She realizes that the good is a means to a good end, but the bad is a means to a bad end. Therefore she takes into her very soul the good and rejects the bad. She is discreet. Those who know her realize that she is a woman of great and commendable discretion.

Her discretion includes prudence. She is careful about her conduct, her influence, her aims, plans and purposes. She guards her tongue, her temper, and her dress. She is decent in dress, upright in manners, and is careful to lead others right. She uses economy at home, seeing that nothing is wasted, and lives within her income. Extravagance is far from her. She is not stingy by any means, as there is a vast difference in stinginess and economy. Rather she is blessedly liberal, yet she is cautious to see that money is not foolishly and uselessly expended; that food and clothing are not wasted, and that anything usable is not cast into the rubbish heap and carried away as rubbish.

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