”If any believer has widows, let her be supplying them and let the assembly not be burdened, in order that the widows indeed it should supply.”
-Paul ties this section together with something practical for believing women to do. Supply. To satisfy upon. Some of them had widows within family-range, and these widows had needs. One very obvious (and not to mention God-pleasing) way a female believer could potentially be serving the Lord is to be taking care of any widows in their family. In theory, we might not normally be talking about more than two such older widows, but I suppose great aunts could possibly run that number up a bit if somehow they didn’t wind up providing you with any cousins. But these women, again, most likely - if they had lost their husband - had lost their means of support. They were powerless, landless, vulnerable and possibly headed for the street. The church was positioned to take them in, but Paul’s whole point is this, that this did not need to happen if there were daughters (or nieces)(or granddaughters even?) who could take them in.
-In other words, it’s a team effort. Compassion is a team effort. Yes, the church can provide a chunk of that, but families can take on some of the burden as well. It’s a family-friendly, family-centric solution. Empower families, in other words. Let’s find solutions that tend not to position the church to be the sole (or even primary) provider of religious goods and services. Of compassion. Family first. Providing and positioning God’s people for opportunities to demonstrate the love of Christ in practical ways - beginning with their family (which was the same point in 1Tim 5.4).
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