Genuine faith never appears out of thin air. Timothy absorbed it from his mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois. Paul knew them both and perceived their faith as the spring that watered the flowering of Timothy’s commitment to the Lord. The text mentions neither Timothy’s father, who was thought to be Greek, nor Timothy’s grandfather. Timothy’s faith developed from his matriarchal lineage.
A strong and sincere faith is not guaranteed from one generation to the next. Many well-meaning parents apply all the religious parenting techniques currently in vogue only to see their children reject the faith, or ignore the faith, or quietly set the faith aside. Christianity is only one generation deep. Every generation must believe afresh. Lois did something right. Too bad we don’t know her practices as we could use them to develop a series of books, podcasts and video guides on how to raise children of faith. We could dub it the “Lois-ization” of our children. I would have bought it when my kids were little. However, we do own one clue about her methodology—her faith is described as sincere.
Sincere is defined as being free from pretenses or deceit; not hypocritical, genuine, whole-hearted, real, honest, frank, upfront, candid, on the level, pure. Our children sniff out hypocrisy in our lives and our words as parents. When we act one way in front of others and a totally different way at home, the kids notice. They start to surmise that the Christian faith that their parents profess is not fully realized, not efficacious, and not deeply meaningful. Kids correctly deduce that if that’s all there is to the Christian faith, then no need to waste their time here. Plenty of other good things to pursue on a Sunday morning.
This was not true of Lois—her faith molded Timothy. You are never alone as you live out your faith. Our sincerity does not fade away in vain, even if we do not see the results. Two old sayings come to mind when I think of Lois and the many godly grandmothers who followed in her path. The first reminds us that the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world. Good grand-parenting imprints qualities on the following generations. If another old saying is true, that our most important contributions are the ones we leave behind, then the legacy left by Lois will be hard to surpass.
Forever stamped in Scripture, this quiet grandmother’s endowment offers us much to ponder as parents, grandparents and leaders.
From Seers, Sayers, Schemers & Saints and 2 Timothy 1
Photo by Raul Petri
