Wives, Stay Home - NCCG.ORG Ning Network Archive 2008-10

First of all, the place for young women to learn to be virtuous women is under the teaching of the aged women in the local church, not at a college (Bible or otherwise). Christian mothers should be teaching their own daughters. Women that do not have children at home should be helping to teach the younger women and especially the ones that do not have saved mothers to instruct them.

It is blasphemy against the word of God (read it!) when the aged women are all out working and don't have time to teach the younger women how to be virtuous. It is a shame to the name of Christ! They are partly responsible for the failures of the younger women if they have not obeyed the scripture in trying to teach them.

An older woman who is out polishing up her career, or even "just helping out" cannot teach the younger women to be keepers at home (she's not there), discreet (she's away from her husband's protection), chaste (she's more than likely having to deal with flirtation or freshness in men around her), obedient to their own husband (she's obeying another man or woman, or bossing them). And then, the older women so often have the nerve to complain and gossip about the younger women. My dear older sisters, YOU are the ones falling down on the job! (1Timothy 5:1 Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father...2 The elder women as mothers...) Have you given a young woman godly, biblical counsel today? This week? This month? Even this year? It is not "the pastor's job." It is yours! Read the verse.

Please, Please fulfill your Biblical calling! We need you! There are many young women who crave the knowledge and wisdom that God has put at your disposal and all too often you will not make it available to us! You are too busy volunteering at some community service, or working at the church building, or working at some job, or reading romance novels. Alas, do ye not know that you too shall answer to God? Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. 7 As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame.

Now, back to the matter of young women going to college.

Long ago, Bible colleges and seminaries were forced to take women because of pressure from the world and worldly-minded Christians. Eventually, in order to be acreditted with the government and have their degrees acknowledged, they had to offer courses for girls and also have co-ed campuses. The courses for the young women had to be promoted to attract them to the colleges, so it was made to seem godly and "necessary" that they get training like the men.

Mission boards and other Christian organizations encouraged this disobedience by requiring varying degrees of "training" for those that worked for them. All too oftern, young person, male or female, had to have college or Bible school training of some sort. It was not "acceptable" nor "adequate" to have studied at the feet of a godly pastor or aged woman (for the girls). (Judging by some of the people that ended up on the missionfield and in positions in Christian organizations, this plan did not do anything to keep the unqualified out of the work. In fact, in many cases it promoted the unqualified and crippled the true servants.)

Thus, today we have literally generations of people thinking that education is utterly important and that somehow, everyone, boys and girls alike, has to have a college education to be really "completed." Never mind what God says; And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: Colossians 2:10 You won't find a verse in the Bible to prove that a woman has to have a college education to be a virtuous woman. (In fact, you won't find a verse in the Bible that proves anyone has to have a college education to do the Lord's work. There is actually more to prove that the knowledge and wisdom of man will get in the way of serving the Lord! Acts 7:22-30, Colossians 2:8, Pilippians 3:4-8)

So, the "well-rounded" young ladies "have to" go to college to be really worth anything according to this myth. How are they going to pay their way through? By getting a job, of course, just like the boys. So, the folly perpetuates folly. Often they start working outside the home while in high school either to save for college, "to learn to earn" (which is allegedly good for them), or "to have some spending money." Don't ask for a chapter and verse from the Bible to support going out of the home to do this. There isn't one!

Often the Christian colleges will "help" the young women get jobs on campus, as if that makes it all right with God. Well, the environment may be better, but it does not excuse disobedience to the word of God!

A friend of mine spent half a year or more at a Bible college and then had to go home for some reason. She had been studying for a degree in "Home Economics." As she pointed out to me after she came back, she finally realized that the best place to study "Home Economics" was under her mother who is a godly woman. What a novel idea! Who would have ever thought of that? The LORD, that's who! My friend, Pam, was thankful and blessed to have figured it out before she paid for 4 years of college!

Another ugly aspect of the college folly is that the young lady generally has to leave home to acquire this "necessary" schooling. How is she learning to be a keeper at home by doing that? Is it right to do wrong to do right? Never!

The Bible is very clear on girls leaving the protection of their fathers and/or brothers before they are married. Genesis 34:1 And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. 2 And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her.

You mothers will run your daughters out the door into the world to work or to go to college far from home; and then will be horrified, shocked and dismayed when she gets into fornication or is raped. WAKE UP! She belongs at home with you! Nobody loves that girl like you do! They are not going to watch out for her best interests like you and, even more so, your husband will! Oh, there may be rules by the ton at the college and there may be consideration in miles at the work place she's in, but when you trot her out where Shechem can see her and get close to her, you are inviting this trouble upon yourself, your daughter, your sons, and your husband! And remember, there are many "good, godly" Shechems running around the campuses of the very best and narrowest colleges. Ask any God-fearing young lady that has had to dodge them! We have heard about them.

You young ladies and girls that think it is necessary for you to go away to college or out to work -- why do you think that God gave you a father? He is there to protect you and look out for your heart as well as your virginity and your physical needs. You should rejoice in that protection as a Christian should rejoice in God the Father's protection over His children. Wouldn't you think a Christian was crazy who didn't like the fact that God was watching over them all the time? Go read the whole story of Dinah in Genesis 34 and see what trouble she made for her Dad because she was not content with his protection.

The solution? It's simple. Stay home!

[By the way, there is no reason for an aged woman to go to college either. Again, if they are not keeping at home, how can they teach the younger women? It is generally, perhaps always purely a matter of pride and/or love of money that prompts this. I can think of only one case where it was really useful, and that was a highly limited and unusual case in which it actually made the wife more useful to her husband's ministry, and that is very rare. They happened to be Bible translators who worked only as a husband/wife team, and she needed to brush up on her Hebrew.]

Courtesy of http://www.blessedquietness.com/journal/homemake/stay-p1.htm

Page 2

By Mary Van Nattan

Titus 2:3 The aged women likewise,
that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness,
not false accusers, not given to much wine,
teachers of good things;
4 That they may teach the young women to be sober,
to love their husbands, to love their children,
5 To be discreet, chaste,
keepers at home,
good, obedient to their own husbands,
that the word of God be not blasphemed.

The Question of Working Outside the Home

Luke 16:15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.

Girls and women working outside the home is highly esteemed among men. We can therefore be sure that God has another standard for His children.

Unmarried Women

There are people that will agree that a mother ought not to work outside the home, and some even that a married woman ought not to work outside the home, but there are not many that will follow the scripture exclusively and see that an unmarried woman, young or not, should not work outside the home.

Why the standard only applies to married women or mothers in some people's minds is a real mystery. The Bible is clear that the young women are to learn to be keepers at home. It naturally follows that they will best learn that by staying home, even before they marry. They are to learn to be obedient to their own husbands. To obey another man or woman besides their father will not help them learn to obey their future husband. They are to learn to love their husband. All too often, girls will have a "crush on" or "fall in love with" some man or fellow at work.

Just because the "other girls" go out to work does not make it all right. Remember the story of Dinah. She went out to see the daughters of the land and ended up in bed with one of the men! That was certainly not learning to be discreet and chaste! 1Corinthians 6:18a Flee fornication...

I remember one sister who told my Mom that she felt that many of the problems she had in her marriage/life were a direct result of working outside the home before she was married. Little wonder. When a young woman finds out how nice it is to get a paycheck and the power that gives her, to enjoy the attentions of other men, and to be away from the demands of housekeeping for most of the day, it becomes a real sacrifice to settle down to being a "just a housewife."

Genesis 3:16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. Who wants a husband ruling over her when she can be out ruling other people, or at least being paid to be ruled over by someone else?!

No wonder so many women lord it over their husband and act as if they did him a great favor in marrying him! They do not have a desire to him. Their desire is to the work-world, to the boss, to the catalog store, to filthy lucre; not to their husband. They know what they supposedly "lost" when they got married and, all too often, will remind him of it. Marriage and homemaking cease to be a privilege looked forward to and prepared for with great love and care. They becomes a burden, a sacrifice, a necessary evil.

When a woman works "just until we have children" these problems are only compounded. Then the children are keeping her home. They are a nuisance, a bother, and in the way of her pursuing her career and earning more money. She will find it easy to neglect the heritage God has entrusted to her care. Psalm 127:3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD... Luke 12:48b ...For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

Many women have learned to their sorrow that unlearning the lessons of pre-marriage working is hard - sometimes very hard. The damage is not always undone in a moment of repentance. Though the sin is forgiven the results are not always so easily discarded. 1John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

According to God's word it is whorish women who are found roaming outside their home! Proverbs 7:10 And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. 11 (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: 12 Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.) (It is not surprising that immodest dress so often goes with women working outside the home.)

It is also little wonder that there are so many marriages that were out of God's will when the young lady met her spouse at college or in the workplace. Does this mean that all marriages that occurred that way are wrong? Well, what saith the scriptures? James 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. That only leaves two possible exceptions - that the young lady did not have a knowledge of God's will for young women in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, or that she was forced to attend college or work by her parents against her will and better judgment.

But, we can be sure that if a young lady will obey the word of God when she does understand it, that He will see to it that the right husband for her, if there is one, will find her! After all, a man who wants a virtuous woman and understands God's will for where that kind of woman will be is not going to be looking at college nor in the workplace!

Wives and Mothers Working Outside the Home

1Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Probably the main reason that people decide that the wife/mother has to go to work is money. Our ungodly, pagan society has made it almost impossible for a couple to buy a home without going into debt and both husband and wife going out to work. The good news though is that ...If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. Mark 9:23 If you have a heart to do God's will and obey His word, He will make it possible, or He will provide a way for you to live with your needs met without a house you own. But, you have to be willing to obey.

So many excuses are given for wives and mothers needing to work outside the home.

For the married woman with no children, it "gives her something to do," "helps pay the bills," "helps me fulfill myself," etc. Never mind that she cannot be an help meet to her husband's needs like she should when she is holding down her own job. Never mind that she is submitting to someone else's authority other than her husband's. Never mind that she is not at there when her husband comes home sick. Never mind that she can't get the laundry done in time for his promotion interview. Never mind that nobody was there to see that the house was on fire until it was too late. Never mind that she is blaspheming God's word!

For mothers the excuses will be "helping to pay the bills" (that one is perennial and all-encompassing), "being able to buy more things for the kids," "doing something for myself," "needing out of the house," etc. Never mind that she is paying more for daycare and babysitters than she is adding to the budget. Never mind that someone else is raising the kids. Never mind that she misses her child's first step and word. Never mind that someone else takes care of her baby when it's sick. Never mind that she and her husband can hardly get any time alone. Never mind that she is blaspheming the word of God!

Because of the worldly attitude that women are liberated to join the work force, it is considered a waste of time and actually even laziness for a woman to stay home! What folly, what utter nonsense! Being a Biblical help meet to a husband and raising a flock of children is a full time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week JOB. Have you read Proverbs 31 lately? Dear Christian lady, that is as much "career" as anyone can handle in one lifetime! Let's work at it with our might! Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. We will not get a second chance.

In actual fact, it is the working woman that is often lazy. She does not want to have the responsibility and trouble of raising her kids, or home schooling them, or of caring for her husband properly, or of keeping a home instead of a house. It is a lot of work to have a Biblical home!

Her house may be clean, her kids behave tolerably well, she has all her cookies in a row, but her house is not a home. She isn't there. She is out blaspheming the word of God. There is no law of kindness at the moment it's needed to help her children grow in Christ Jesus. There is no food from afar. There is no food prepared for the morning meal before anyone else is up. There is no one to come home to. The heart of her husband cannot safely trust in her because her work schedule might change or she might be given overtime by the boss. And on and on it goes.

Being a virtuous woman is a lot of trouble. It is not for the lazy, selfish, self-serving woman. But, the wonder of it, the blessing, the exceeding great reward is that it pays eternal wages laid up in heaven for those that will obey! Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. (Any mother who has suffered through the night at the bedside of a very ill child, or through the teenage years of an impulsive and willful child can find comfort in that verse.)

But the rewards start here. Proverbs 31:28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. 29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. 30 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised. 31 Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.

Too many women want to be called "blessed" by their husband and kids, but they want to have a career too. They want the glory, but they are not willing to be a "lowly" house wife and mother to get it. Mark 10:44 And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. 45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. This is the calling and work that God has ordained for women. It is a priviledge. It is for the glory of God.

[PLEASE NOTE: If your kids are gone or you have no children and your husband is a truck driver or something of that nature, if it is possible for you to travel with him, you should seriously consider talking to him about going with him. It is true that you will not be in what is "officially" your home, but if a man has to do that kind of work and there are no children at home, then your home should be where he is if possible. (Be available to your kids though. They need you even when they are grown.) Also, there are cases in which a woman helps in the family business and perhaps has to spend part of the day in another place than the actual house (an office on the same property, the barn, etc.). If your husband needs your help in a business that keeps you away from the home and from caring for the children properly though, you may want to discuss the difficulty with him. You must obey his wishes in the matter however, and abide by his choices. If they are not according to the word of God, then keep you mouth shut and pray! Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.]

Courtesy of http://www.blessedquietness.com/journal/homemake/stay-p2.htm

Page 3

By Mary Van Nattan

Titus 2:3 The aged women likewise,
that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness,
not false accusers, not given to much wine,
teachers of good things;
4 That they may teach the young women to be sober,
to love their husbands, to love their children,
5 To be discreet, chaste,
keepers at home,
good, obedient to their own husbands,
that the word of God be not blasphemed.

Are You Really Keeping at Home?

There is a common problem particularly among the wives and daughters of pastors, missionaries, and others in full time Christian service. It occurs in many other woman as well, but is too often excused in these women.

They do not work outside the home, they are certain not to do that, but they are not at home either. They are out "helping" with the work so much, that they cannot keep at home. Now, there are certainly times for a women to go somewhere with her husband or father to help in the work. In fact, an evangelist that travels without his family is highly questionable. That is another matter. But we are speaking here of wives and daughters that spend much of their time away from home on invented errands and jobs, or ones that are not rightfully theirs.

Teaching at the church school is all too often made to look spiritual and good because, after all, it is for the church! But, if the school cannot be run without taking the women out of their homes, then it is wrong. Remember it is not right to do wrong to do right! It does not matter what some great Christians did or says. It is what the Bible says that counts! God says "keepers at home" which excludes the women teaching at the church school, being the full time church secretary, running a church daycare (which wouldn't be needed if the other women were not working).

There are many other excuses for not being home. Missionary women too often must have their own ministry, or just "have" to be with their husbands all the time. The kids are off at boarding school, so they feel justified and often pressured to go out and do something.

Have you ever read what the Bible says about raising your children? One thing is certain, it says that the parents of the child are to do it, not a bunch of half disgruntled "dorm parents" who got sent there too often against their will! If you are not allowed to keep your kids home with you and teach them, you had better find another mission to work with! Boarding school has ruined many missionaries' kids. We have seen it! Ephesians 6:4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

When my Mom was in boarding school there was a man in leadership at the school who would actually threaten kids that if they did not behave he would send them home to their parents. He told them, "Your parents are too busy to have you around!" (The ungodly wretch!) If my grandparents had known he was saying that there would have been some real trouble and they may well have taken their kids home to prove to them that they did not think that way!

Is that what your kids are being taught at boarding school? Worse still is that what you are letting your kids think by your behaviour and actions? God forbid! But, there are too many missionaries who do think that way! Their kids are just "in the way" of their ministry and they are more than happy to get them off to boarding school. They have "great things to do for God" that do not include bringing their children "up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." God help you if you are a mother that thinks that way! You are going to pay.... Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. There is not a responsibility that you have that is more important than seeing to it that your children are saved and raised to be useful Christians to the Lord! (Billy Sunday will receive his rewards for all the souls he won to Christ, but there maybe more wood and stubble than some people think, for he will have to answer to God for why his own abandoned children ended up drunkards!)

Now, this is not to say that is wrong to help clean the church building, or to have a Bible study, or to go on visitation with your husband, or on an evangelistic trip with him. That is not wrong in moderation. The point is, there are women (you know who you are) that spend most of their time galavanting around "doing the Lord's work" in every place but their home. Their kids are neglected, their houses are empty and lifeless and sometimes even a mess. But, they are "doing the Lord's work" so no one durst question them. This is wrong! You cannot do "the Lord's work" properly when you are blaspheming His word!

God tells us Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Are you there to train your children? Proverbs 29:15 The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.

In one church we were in one young lady told my Mom about how another local pastor's wife "went everywhere with her husband." She thought that was really neat. Needless to say, my Mom was not too impressed. She knew how much work it takes to run a home properly, and that that pastor's wife had two children who needed more attention.

Now there are other women, who find ways to stay out of the home even though they are "not working" either. The possibilities are numerous: attending home schooling meetings and functions, competitions, community service, women's clubs, craft clubs, going to the mall/shopping, yard saling; or even just visiting other ladies in the church, community or family. Whatever the case, the question is, are you out doing other things more than you are at home?

There is nothing wrong with many of these things in moderation, but sadly there are women who give themselves to these things and end up blaspheming the word of God because they are not "keepers at home".

The world will think we are crazy when we obey God's word in this. Let them! 1Peter 4:3 For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: 4 ¶ Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: 5 Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. If other Christian women want to go running around fulfilling the will of the Gentiles, let them too! We give account of ourselves to God, and He is not going to accept excuses that others were doing the same thing. He will want to know what each of us did with His clear will. Romans 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

[Please see note at bottom of Page 2.]

Keeper OF the Home?

Now I have heard it said that "A woman is be a keeper of the home. If she can be a keeper of the home (or a builder of the home) and work outside the home too, well then fine." Please notice how the word of God has to be mangled with to make this point! It is an ungodly lie, that's what it is!

The scripture says a keeper AT home. You cannot be a keeper AT home and be working part time nor full time. Nor can you be a keep AT home and be running all over the place to various functions and activities. Most of the time the weekly church meetings with maybe a Bible study or music lesson, the weekly shopping for the family and the occasional doctor's appointments will keep you away from home enough, or more than enough, in one week.

Now there is a time for a lady to get away once in a while to have a date with her husband, to visit a friend, or to just be alone with God and meditate. (Genesis 24:63 And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide...) But the fact stands that for hundreds of years mothers and wives got very few "breaks." Frontier women spent almost all of their time at home with very few "breaks" and yet somehow they managed to raise men like Abraham Lincoln, Peter Cartwright, etc. and be content while doing it. They did not know that they "deserved" anything better.

Too often we are tempted to think like the wimpy, soft worldlings that view children as inconvenient. Who feel "saddled" with marriage, "burdened" with children, "weighed down" with all the responsibilities of being a home maker. (Listen to them talk. You will hear it.) We tend to pick up their commericalized "values" that we "need a break"; or even more, that we "deserve" something better or a "reward" for our trouble.

A friend of mine has expressed her struggle with feeling like her kids are so much trouble instead of the blessing God intends them to be. That is the world's thinking. That is what the devil wants us to think. He hates children! (Just see how many he has killed in the womb.) 1Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

Are you going to let Satan influence your thinking toward your children? Are you going to let him question the joy in obeying God's word as a woman? Are you going to let him convince you that God's requirements for a godly woman are "unfair"?

What is "fair"? Who are we trying to please anyway? Whose rules are we following? Is there "Joy In Serving Jesus"? Who are we judging our families and ourselves by? If it is this commercialized, deformed culture of the 21st century - invented by the devil - then no wonder we are discontent. We cannot serve two masters. Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

This is a war and either God will get you, or the devil will. You may be saved and go to heaven when you die, but if you give place to the devil (Ephesians 4:27), he will use you up. 2Timothy 2:3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. 5 And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.

So the choice is ours. Will we live by the world's and the devil's standards of materialism and carnality? Or will we live by God's standards of holiness? Will we be wimps or will we be soldiers? Will we choose to be blessed by the things that God intends to bless us? Will we rejoice that we can serve in our homes as we are called to do? Will we choose to be content with the state that He has chosen for us? Will we feel the privilege of serving the men that God has placed over us? Everyone of us must choose for herself.

Philippians 4:11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. 12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

1Timothy 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.

Being a servant is the greatest position we can have in the Lord's work. Jesus will not ask us to do more than He did Himself, and He came to be a servant and to suffer for others. Mark 10: 42 But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. 43 But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: 44 And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. 45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Philippians 3:12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 15 ¶ Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. 16 Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.

Courtesy of http://www.blessedquietness.com/journal/homemake/stay-p3.htm

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