Page 22 22 The call to be a Bethany is not a call to individual prayer or Bible study. This is not at all what I’m saying. It is a call to live as a community–to live out your life in the context of a body of believers who are making a home for their Lord together . . . to give Him a place to lay His head. The early church gathered together daily in one form or another. They lived a shared life together. The church does not exist to make you and me better citizens in society. That is incidental. It’s not what the church is. The church is an alternative society. It’s not a supplement to this world. It’s a world of its own out of which we live our lives in society as God’s people. And God’s people live as a shared-life community. Make no mistake about it: You cannot separate devotion to Jesus Christ from devotion to His house. God wants a Bethany. An extended family made up of sisters and brothers who give Christ His rightful place. You can’t be a home for Christ yourself. It takes a community of believers to do that. And it requires your time . . . a great deal of your time. Let’s now look at the fourth and final narrative.
Many wives strive for physical beauty, but Scripture says that “beauty is vain” (Proverbs 31:30). While it’s alright for her to adorn herself with outward beauty, a godly wife’s first concern is to adorn herself more with inward beauty. You do this by being submissive to your husband with the attitude of a “meek and quiet spirit” (1 Peter 3:3). You develop a “meek and quiet spirit” by humbly trusting God while being submissive to your husband. Your motivation comes from placing your hope and trust in God just like the “holy women” in “former times” (1 Peter 3:5).
Martha Peace