The Influence of a Godly Grandmother and Mother on Timothy

“When I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” –II Timothy 2:5-7 (NKJV). “But as for you, continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” –II Timothy 3:14-15 (NKJV).

Timothy’s mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois are mentioned by name only once in the Bible, in II Timothy 3:14. Luke, in writing the Acts of the Apostles, records the story of Timothy’s call and going with Paul and Silas when they were in Lystra. We read: “And behold, a certain disciple was there, name Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek. He was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted to have him go on with him. And he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek” (Acts 16:1-3). Timothy and his mother and grandmother were likely converted to Christianity on Paul’s first missionary journey to Lystra. By the time Paul returned on his second missionary journey, Timothy was already an outstanding Christian there. Lois and Eunice were Jews by birth, but Timothy’s father (unnamed) was Greek. That is why Paul thought it best to circumcise Timothy so that no criticism would be forthcoming from Jewish Christians they might meet. Eunice and Lois’s influence on Timothy made such an impact that Paul felt it worthy of noting in the epistle to Timothy.

Family influence can be a strong factor in helping children to become a Christian and to develop in Christ-like graces. Paul commended Timothy that his faith had first lived in his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois. They had prepared Timothy with a solid education in the Jewish Scriptures, had taught him responsibility and trained him in strong character traits. Paul called Timothy his “son in the gospel.” He could trust him to be sent on important missions and assigned him to hard places to assist struggling congregations with problems of doctrine and Christian discipline.

Paul wrote in I Timothy 6:11-12: “But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godloiness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (NKJV)

What Paul was telling Timothy (and us) to flee was the love of money. He was to embrace instead the fruits of the Spirit which included godliness, faith, love, patience and gentleness. Timothy had been taught these characteristics from his youth up, both by precept and example, by his mother and grandmother. “I’d rather see a sermon any day than to hear one” is an oft-quoted adage about Christian example. In the home, we learn by seeing a sermon lived out in the lives of godly elders. Timothy had that example. Let us pray that we ourselves can be more like Eunice and Lois.

Scripture on Its Way to Us

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” –II Timothy 3:16-17 (KJV).

The Word of God is “God breathed.” Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, inspired men wrote at God’s direction so that persons might have the very Word of God Himself for the purposes of doctrine (belief), reproof (chastisement), correction (righting), instruction in righteousness (direction to go). This four-fold purpose of the scripture is that the man of God (believer, Christian) may be led to do good works. The Bible is at the same time our instruction book of how to be and how to do, how to order life according to God’s principles and how to live life according to God’s directives. Paul knew how important these concepts were for the young preacher Timothy to know and practice, and he instructed him to “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (I Timothy 4:2-4, KJV).

Yesterday some friends and I had a wonderful experience. We traveled to Atlanta to view “Passages,” an interactive Bible display that is currently set up for public view in a section of Perimeter Mall. “Passages” is described as a “fascinating story that spans over 2,000 years…with expert commentary on the artifacts by some of the world’s leading scholars.” (Passages brochure). It is in celebration of the 400th year (in 2011) since the translation of the King James Version of the Bible in 1611, and in honor of the men (and women) who lost their lives because they stood up for their beliefs that the Bible should be made available to all people in the language of the people. Even though I had studied the history of how the Bible came to us, and had a deep appreciation of the price people throughout history have paid to bring God’s Word to us, I will not again take for granted the privilege of reading and studying God’s Word. From efforts of the ancient scribes of Old Testament days to those who, amidst great persecution and loss of lives persisted in translating and transcribing the Word of God, it has come to us at a great cost in dedication and lives lost. The Passages museum collection will be on display in Atlanta at Perimeter Mall through mid-May 2012. I recommend that you visit it if you can; plan to spend several hours there, because it is not a quick-through exhibit. Serious viewers will certainly come away with a deeper appreciation of God’s Word, Scripture, and how it came to us. You will see a reproduction of the Gutenberg printing press on which Johannes Gutenberg and six assistants took two years of very hard work to produce the first Bible printed on moveable press and completed in 1454 in Germany. The Bible became more available in English in 1611 with the King James edition, although noble efforts by Caedmon, John Wycliffe, John Purvey (the Lollard’s Bible), and William Tyndale had produced portions or all of the scriptures in English prior to 1611.

We can truly appreciate the “God-breathed, God-inspired” writers of the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, who at the instruction of God wrote the Bible in its original languages. Added to that noble company of Holy Spirit-inspired writers is a host of others through centuries who, with singleness of purpose and with God-inspired determination faced great odds, even loss of life, to give us the Bible in our own language. The efforts are still moving forward today as linguists work diligently to translate the Bible. Religion, society, culture, archaeology, science and technology have all played important roles in preserving and transferring the Bible. Scholar G. S. Wegener wrote of the Bible: “it has passed through all the stages of man’s achievements and come out unscathed and full of life. And always will be, till the end of the world.” (Wegener, G. S., 6,000 Years of the Bible. New York: Harper, 1958. p. 340). Thank God for His Word and for the great price paid by many to bring it to us intact. Truly we can say with deep thanksgiving, ”Thy Word is a lalmp unto my feet and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105).

The Word…Sweeter Than Honey

“How sweet are Your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore, I hate every false way.” –Psalm 119:103-104. “ ”Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.”-Psalm 119:97 (NKJV).

Do you love God’s Word? Can you say with the writer of Psalm 119 that it is sweeter to your mouth than honey? Can you attest that God’s law is your meditation all the day? Do you cling to God’s testimonies? Do you delight in His commandments? Do you yearn for the Lord’s precepts? If you can honestly say yes to all of these questions, then you do have a desire to know God’s Word, to cling to it, to follow it, to keep it in your heart and mind. Such was the desire of the writer of the very longest Psalm of all, 119, which is a 176 verse acclamation of the excellence of God’s Word and how the Psalmist wanted to hide it in his heart, live by it, and gain delight and life from it.

Isaiah 40:3 reads: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’” I take this verse out of context and apply it to the present dearth of the knowledge of and love for the Word of God—the spiritual wilderness or desert in which we, by our own lack of study and application of the Bible—allow ourselves to live. But there is a voice in this wilderness. God has given us His Word. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; That the man of God may be complete, perfect, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” –II Timothy 3:16-17 (NKJV). Paul’s strong words about the inspiration of Scripture, and its value for doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness are emphasized. We don’t have to wander in the wilderness of apathy and spiritual dearth. We can be well-equipped with the knowledge and guidance God’s Word provides us. Systematically reading and studying the Word of God can supply a wonderful highway through the desert of our spiritual dearth. Just like the shepherds of old came upon a bee tree in Israel, and had the sweet taste of honey to assuage their hunger, so the Word of God can satisfy our spiritual hunger. It can go beyond providing for our spiritual hunger; it can fill us to overflowing with the precepts, joy and guidance of the Lord.

I must establish some necessary guidelines when I open God’s Word, the Bible. When I approach it, I am entering holy ground. I am not seeking an explanation for God; He is, and I am seeking His voice. We need to pray, “Maranatha. Our Lord, come!” (I Corinthians 16:22). Maranatha is a word we associate with the second coming of the Lord. But it can also mean, “Lord come to me now; speak to me now.” Each time we take the Word to study it, read it for inspiration, seek out its truths for our edification, we are meeting the Lord. He is speaking to us! Wonder of wonders, His “Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path!” (Psalm 119:105). We would see a difference in our churches, in our society, in families, in personal lives of Christians if only we would take seriously our love for the Word and be diligent in following its truths. As good as they are, a few devotional verses a day may help, but they are not enough. A deep-down, earnest, sincere study of the Word is what is needed. Can you answer yes to the questions posed at the beginning of this devotional? Would you like to? I hope you will say, “Maranatha, Lord come! Talk to me through Your Word.” Then we will say with the Psalmist: “Oh! How I love Thy law (Word)! It is my meditation day and night!”