Tim’s Grandmother

Tim was a little boy who lived long, long, ago. He had a awesome grandmother, her name was Lois. Lois was very passionate about God and made sure to teach her children about the ways of God. Tim’s mother, Eunice, absorbed the same passion and taught her little children about loving God. Tim grew up to be a strong man of God and a preacher of the word of God in many places of the world.

Tim is actually more known among us as Timothy. Paul (yeah, the one in the Bible) actually mentored him and wrote him two letters of encouragement. Even better is that those letters made it into the Bible! They are called The first and the Second letter of Paul to Timothy.

I had always found it hard to show an example of Godly parenting from the Bible. I was able to pull the principle out of the Bible (read my post: “God, Families, Church, and Youth Ministry”), and I could always find commands and examples of the principle in the Old Testament, but I could never find an example where it was being done in the New Testament. I wanted to be able to show people that teaching their kids the ways of God would impact the next generation. The other day I was reading through second Timothy and I almost leaped out of my chair when I found this. I read 2 Timothy 3:14-15:

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

I thought “it’s cool that Timothy had been ‘acquainted with the sacred wittings’ from childhood, that’s probably why he became such a Godly man.” Then I realized: “wait a minute, didn’t Timothy learn his faith from his mother, who was taught by her mother?” (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.

This is what I’ve been trying so hard to explain to so many people. Parents have the largest spiritual influence on their children. Even though my parents weren’t very devoted to religion while I was growing up, I’ve learned my strongest spiritual lessons from them, and not a minister. I can only imagine if they had been devoted. Why is the number of kids who drop out of church in college increasing? Because more and more, everyday, parents are putting the responsibility of raising their children in a godly way into the hands of minsters, like me, during the kid’s teenage years.

I’ve been applying at different churches for youth ministry positions and that’s one of the things I try to emphasize at every meeting with elders I attend. In one of the meetings I’ve had there was one elder, out of a group of elders, who deliberately told me: “we understand that, Daniel, but considering the way parents’ busy work lives are nowadays, you’re going to have to be a back-up parent every once in while.” My heart shattered into tiny pieces when he said that, especially because we both knew that “every once in a while” was more often than he would like to admit.

As a young man seeking to work in youth ministry, I beg all parents: “Don’t leave you’re children’s spiritual formation in my hands!!! I’ll be glad to help in what I can, but you’re the ones who are going to make any significant, lasting, impact in their spiritual lives, not me.”

I pray that we come to understand that unless we teach families how to give their children the proper spiritual nutrition, like Lois and Eunice did to Timothy, we’re going to have more and more young adults “dying” of spiritual malnutrition in our university campuses around the country; until the day where history will say:

“After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew not the LORD…”

- Judges 2:10

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