MirjamFels.com is a website (which includes a devotional blog) for Christian women about Studying, Teaching, and Working at Home.
Ideally it is possible for women in today’s world to become full-time homemakers. Others, however, may not be as fortunate to have this freedom to choose whether they want to stay at home or not. There are several possible circumstances in life that prevent a wife and/or mother from staying at home no matter how much she could wish for and no matter how hard she may try to make it happen.
The goal of this website is not to point the finger at anyone nor to condemn the one who cannot (or hesitates to make the decision) to become a full-time keeper at home. What I’m praying for, though, is, that the one in whose power it is to change her (and her family’s) circumstances by staying at home that she would at least read on, study the Word of God herself, and pray about what God wants her to consider and do.
Keeper at Home
God’s Word calls older women to admonish the young women to be homemakers. What does the Bible mean by that? Let’s read Titus 2:3-5 (NKJV)
the older women likewise,
that they be reverent in behavior,
not slanderers,
not given to much wine,
teachers of good things—
that they admonish the young women
to love their husbands,
to love their children,
to be discreet,
chaste,
homemakers,
good,
obedient to their own husbands,
that the word of God may not be blasphemed.
Oikouros is the Greek word here that has been translated as homemakers (NKJV). The KJV translates it as keepers at home. If we look up the word in Strong’s Concordance (G3626) we will find out that it’s only used once (in Titus 2:5). Strong defines it as: a stayer at home.
Let’s explore the meaning of Oikourus a little further. The word consists of:
oykos (G3624 in Strong’s) is translated as home or house/-hold (and temple in some cases)
and
ouros which means a guard, be “ware.” (beware, be on your guard)
There is no place like home! Our family should feel safe and secure there. Ouros is so important! The devil likes to see us “off guard” and wandering around while we should guard our homes. Matthew Henry puts it this way in his commentary:
[The women’s] business is to guide the house, and they should give no occasion to the enemy to speak reproachfully.
In today’s world the word homemaker seems to have lost its true meaning. Why should a young Christian woman choose to stay at home and make it her business to guide and guard her house while her friends go off to college or work outside their home? I would like to challenge us to study the Word and give it thought if staying at home is/could be important for us, our family, and the future generations of Christians.