What does it mean to make my home from scratch?
I am on a journey. A journey that will last my entire life. I am on a journey towards discovering – and living out – what it means to be a Biblical, God-honoring, Proverbs 31 homemaker.
Along this journey I have discovered that the quick fixes in life are rarely easy solutions and that the good things in life are worth fighting hard for – a prayer filled life, saturating your mind with scripture, enjoying your kids, loving your husband, crafting healthy meals and a natural lifestyle so my family can better serve God’s Kingdom – it all takes intentional thought, hard work, and prayer!
The Homemaker’s Duties
It’s so easy to get overburden in this life. We pile on unrealistic expectations that we equate with godliness. Is your kitchen spotless? Are those perfect pinterest brownies baking away in the oven? But in the meantime you are screaming at your kids and you have yet to bow your head in prayer today or open God’s Word? It’s so easy to get entangled in false ideas of what a Biblical homemaker should look like, we need to turn to the one source we can trust – God’s Word, specifically Titus 2 and Proverbs 31: 10-31:
And so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. ~Titus 2:4-5
What does being a Biblical, Godly Homemaker look like?
- Older women are supposed to be involved in mentoring younger women
- We are to actively and consistently work at loving our husbands and our children (even when they are late for dinner or track mud through the kitchen)
- We are to be self controlled and pure in our life which extends to our speech, attitude, demeanor, and thoughts
- We are to work at home. Other translations say “homemakers” NKJV, “to be busy at home” NIV, “keepers at home” KJV. These all bring with it the idea of having your primary job and responsibility be your home. Working hard to keep your home, manage it, and to be busy taking care of your family.
- We are to be gentle, kind, and submissive to our husbands.
- A wife who follows these Godly principals is more precious then fine jewels and riches (Proverbs 31:10)
- We are to diligently seek out materials and resources for our family (Proverbs 31:13)
- We are to seek far and wide, doing what is necessary (within reason) to get healthy, clean food for our family (Proverbs 31:14)
- Gathering, preparing, and serving food for her household is a big (and important) part of our daily routine (Proverbs 31:15)
- We should be industrious if it serves our family. We can plan, invest, and even grow food by our own hands (Proverbs 31: 16)
- We are to think about and plan all aspects of our household and family life – from warm winter clothing to beautiful bed coverings to helping feed the hungry and needy (Proverbs 31:18-31)
Learning Lessons From Scripture
What is the point of trying to resemble a Titus 2 and Proverbs 31 women in our speech, character, attitude, and thoughts?
That the Word of God may not be reviled
We diligently work hard to be wise keepers of our home because we want to share with others the Good News of God’s Word. The NKJV says “that the word of God may not be blasphemed”.
When the world looks at Christians, this should be their first glimpses of Christ. They should see our chaste, gentle, and pure spirit’s and be able to see the Good News in our lifestyle. We can do this by modeling Titus 2. We can put on love for our husband, children, and household and show what it means to live by Biblical standards.
A Woman Who Fears the Lord is to be Praised
What is the point of setting the Proverbs 31 woman as our standard? This excellent wife is praised in Scripture for being a Godly woman. The Queen shares this with her son, instructing him in the kind of woman he should find to marry.
Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.” Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates. ~ Proverbs 31: 28-31
The point of living our life measured against this standard isn’t for earthly, man-centered-glory for ourselves – but rather to bring honor and glory to God, above all else!
We model our lives according to this standard because God’s Word instructs us too. We are to love our husbands and our children, work hard in our home, and ultimately bring glory to God through these actions.
On a Practical Level – Being a Godly Homemaker
Now that we see what the Biblical model is, how do we live this out?
Modern inventions can be really helpful in this. Most of us no longer have to toil away under the hot sun all day just to gather our food. Modern conveniences allow us to not spend any time in the kitchen if we don’t want too – in fact you don’t even have to have a kitchen at all with fast food restaurants on every corner.
We have modern, time saving appliances like washing machines, microwaves, and vacuum cleaners. We should be more advanced then the women of the Bible. We should be able to go far beyond what the Proverbs 31 wife did because we should have 10 times more time on our hands right? Gone are the days of having to rise while it is still dark just to make breakfast! Right??
But have all of our modern, time saving devices and conveniences actually hurt us and not helped us?
With all your free time that processed convenience foods can give you, do you spend that time in God’s Word? Or what about in prayer? Do you fill your time playing with your children and cultivating a deeper and more loving marriage with your husband? Do you take advantage of this new time and practice hospitality by inviting others into your home?
Or, do you fill up your time with other things? Do you zone out on television for hours every night? Do you find yourself making excuses why you can’t spend quality time with your kids because you are “just too busy”? Do you use this same excuse with your husband or for reaching out and serving others?
On a more basic level, have all of these time saving conveniences of our modern age hurt your family? Such as health, mental clarity, and strength and ability to serve His Kingdom?
Being Busy at Home
When I look at how the Proverbs 31 women scheduled her day, I can think of only one thing: She was the very definition of what it means to be busy, keeping her home.
Yes, this excellent woman had servants at her disposal. She could have ordered them to rise early and make breakfast. And yet, the Queen was instructing her son on the kind of woman to find who would one day become Queen over Israel. This princess would have vast resources at her fingertips and yet – the Prince is taught to find a woman who is a mighty worker. This woman had time saving resources at the snap of her finger in the form of loyal servants and vast resources.
But she chose instead to be a hard worker at home. I think there is value in forming your character when you choose to work hard instead of laziness (and teaching this diligence to your kids)- but that is another topic for another day.
Homemaking From Scratch
So why am I choosing to take time making my home from scratch so seriously? In fact, I’m taking it so seriously that I’m launching an all new conference about it?
As a Christian Homemaker, I think it’s my responsibility and privilege to make sure my home and family is healthy. I want to help my husband to have enough energy to accomplish his daily work. I want to help grow my children up into strong Christian servants. I want to use our resources wisely, and stretch every dollar as far as it can go.
And more importantly – I want to honor God in my homemaking.
When I look at the Proverbs 31 woman, I see someone who isn’t afraid of hard work. She rises early, goes to bed late, and makes sure her family is healthy and taken care of. She is invested in the small details of life such as making sure they have fine bed coverings and warm clothes for the winter.
She knows the value of working hard for her family – Because it helps build Godly character. And in our day when modern convenience and processed foods are filled with toxic junk, I can’t knowingly feed this to my family. When I discover unhealthy, toxic ingredients in things like household cleaners, I can’t knowingly expose these to my children and husband.
Since these modern devices and foods don’t seem to be saving us any real time anyway – since we are collectively busier than ever as a nation – then I want to harkon back to a simpler time.
I want to do my morning devotions while the bread is baking in the oven.
I want to spend precious moments laughing and playing with my children as we hang the laundry out to dry in the back yard.
I want to create a loving, Christ Centered family that is focused on HIS word and not modern, popular culture.
I want to teach my kids what it means to work hard, be diligent, and profit from the work of your own hands to build character, dilience and most importantly – Godly character.
I choose to make my home from scratch because it’s the best way I know how to create a Christ Centered, healthy, vibrant home that is focused on serving the Lord to the best of my ability. Yet – never letting creating a healthy home become an idol in my heart.
We will be focusing on all things during the first annual Homemaking From Scratch online conference! We will have sessions on natural cleaning, homemaking routines, cleaning schedules, marriage, Biblical motherhood, hospitality, and so much more. Instead of focusing on a laundry list of things you *should be doing*, we will be looking at Scripture and then applying those principles to our life through the lens of grace and the fact that we can’t do it all – we just need to follow Christ!
