May 12 | Bible in a Year: 2 Kings 15-16; John 3:1-18

Leaving a Spiritual Legacy

I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice. 2 Timothy 1:5

READ 2 Timothy 1:3-5

As teens, my sister and I didn’t understand my mum’s decision to receive Jesus as her Saviour, but we couldn’t deny the changes we saw in her. She had more peace and joy and began faithfully serving at church. She had such a hunger for studying the Bible that she attended and graduated from Bible college. A few years after my mum’s decision, my sister accepted Christ and started serving Him. And a few years after that, I also placed my trust in Jesus and started serving Him. Many years later, my father joined us in believing in Him as well. My mum’s decision for Christ created a life-changing ripple effect among our immediate and extended family.

When the apostle Paul wrote his final letter to Timothy and encouraged him to persevere in his faith in Jesus, he noted Timothy’s spiritual heritage. “I am 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).

Parents and grandparents, brothers and sisters, your decisions can affect those around you and the generations after you.

How beautiful that Timothy’s mum and grandmother helped nurture his faith so he could become the man God was calling him to be. Let’s also seek God wholeheartedly so we can leave a spiritual legacy for our loved ones.

By Nancy Gavilanes

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT

Though Paul affectionately called Timothy “my true son in the faith” (1 Timothy 1:2; see 2 Timothy 1:2), he wasn’t the one who taught him about Jesus. It was his own mother Eunice and grandmother Lois (2 Timothy 1:5) who “taught [him] the holy Scriptures from childhood, and . . . [gave him] the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus” (3:15 NLT). Timothy was of mixed parentage—a gentile father and Jewish mother. When Paul first met him, Timothy was already a leader and “the believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him” (Acts 16:2). He became Paul’s intern, traveling companion, and trusted protégé (vv. 3-4; Philippians 2:19-22). That the apostle sent Timothy to deal with the troublesome Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 4:17) and to confront false teachers in the Ephesian church ( 1 Timothy 1:3) testify to this young man’s spiritual maturity and ministry leadership.