Good
Morning All,
2 Timothy 1:5; “I am
reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother
Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.”
Who did you hear it from? Who was the first person you remember who
taught you about Jesus? Most would
probably say a grandmother or grandfather or mom or dad or a favorite Sunday
School teacher or maybe even an aunt or an uncle; most learned at an early
age. For some it was much later, your
spouse or a friend or co-worker might fit the bill, but we all have one thing
in common; someone told us about Jesus.
It is one thing that makes faith so precious and valuable; your faith
has been handed down from one generation to the next. If you could do it; you could trace your
faith back to the original 12 apostles and then to Jesus because that is how we
get it.
“Faith comes by hearing”, Paul tells us and
if we hear someone talks and it is usually a family member or close friend the
first time. This is the way it works;
this is the way God designed it. From
the earliest times, God designed that faith would be handed down from one to
another. After the Exodus, God told the
people of Israel to be ready when your children ask about the ceremony of the
Passover and to tell the children what God did for them and how he saved
them. Early on the directive was to
teach the children and teach them at an early age. At Mount Sinai God directed them to “impress
them upon your children’s heart”; that means to pass the faith onto the next
generation. Give it to them like the
precious gift that it is.
Our verse refers to Timothy as Paul was
writing to him for the last time. Paul
commented on Timothy’s faith and how that faith had dwelled and been passed
down to him from his mother and grandmother.
The one who Paul viewed as his adopted son in Christ came to faith
because of his mother and grandmother; just the same as many of us.
This is how God designed the passing of
faith; by the quiet and gentle teaching of one to another. There
is no earth shattering events just a simple growing in the faith. We all know that our children watch us like
hawks. They observe our choices and decisions and compare them to what we say
we believe. Children do as we do, not as we say. When we choose according to
life, following God’s precepts, we demonstrate authentic faith to our
family. We prove our love for God, our ability to hear His voice, and our
desire to cling to Him by choosing to follow His direction. One way that our
family chose to do this was by praying for our neighbors. Often, we would go
door to door with our small group and ask our neighbors if we could pray with
them. This action proved our belief system more to our children than a thousand
Sunday school lessons. It was faith in action, in practice; faith made real.
So, live a faithful life; let your children
see your faith in practice; prayer, Bible reading, worshipping together all
make great and proper impressions.
Father, thank you for those
loved ones in my life who passed the faith to me. Give me the wisdom to pass my faith onto the
next ones. In Jesus’ precious name we
pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
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