“ I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois
and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also”
2 Timothy 1:5
Being
a mom can be a huge guilt trip. Children
have a mind of their own (surprise, surprise!)!
Most shockingly, they have the nerve to turn out differently to how
we’ve planned them to turn out!
A
mom can do everything right, yet her child may end up “departing from the way
(s)he should go”.
Yet
there is one way that no mom can fail.
It is to choose, however imperfectly, to be a Lois or a Eunice.
I have no idea whether or not Timothy had any siblings.
I don’t know about his dad (although a lack of mention might mean that
faith skipped a generation). Yet
this one thing we do know; the
same faith that lived in his grandmother and then in his mother came to live in
Timothy.
Every
mom, every dad, at any point in their lives, realizing it is never too late, can
enter into a real and trusting relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
When faith is real, it can be rejected, ridiculed, or ignored by others,
including family, but it cannot be dismissed.
A Real God alive in a real
relationship with a real person
cannot help but be a “good infection” that gets “caught” by someone
else.
But
what of the unbelieving children every believing mom wants so desperately to see
come to faith? Years ago I went to
convent for a retreat and ate lunch each day with the nuns.
In one conversation I mentioned how I knew some missionaries who went to
foreign lands to bring Christ to their country.
I’ll never forget the nuns’ response.
They told me they when they send missionaries they believe that Christ is
already at work in those lands before the missionaries ever get there.
The missionaries simply go to join Jesus in the work he already doing.
I got some pretty good teaching that day, a teaching I believe to this
day.
Moms,
this one thing you can do.
Pursue a real relationship with the real God.
As it God becomes ever more real to you, He will inevitably become more
and more real to others, regardless whatever responses to your faith you
perceive from others. Second,
you can trust that regardless of what you see your children doing or believing,
you can know and trust that Jesus is at work in their lives.
Indeed He has gone ahead of you and will
never stop seeking to break into your children’s lives.
Remember that when you see “cracks” in the lives of your children, it
is through those very same cracks that the light has room to enter.
“Lord, thank you for Lois and Eunice who
received, lived, and kept the faith. Help
me, Lord, to make it my daily habit to talk to you, read your Word regularly,
listen for your direction, and with your help, to obey. Thank
you Lord, Amen”
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