Mother’s Day (regardless of personal, past experiences) does bring with it memories, pains, dreams, hopes, and many other thoughts and feelings, but the sacredness of the institution of motherhood is timeless. God’s wonderful, perfect plan for mothers as a source of life, nurture, and love finds its source in the beginning of time when God created Eve as a suitable helper for Adam. She would be the perfect counterpart to him in his aloneness and bring about a completeness he had not known up to that point in creation. She would also be the mother of all those who would come into being and hold a vital role in the faith and development of all generations to come.

Today, I want to look at a brief story in scripture that illustrates, not how to be a perfect mom, but how to be a faithful mom…

The women in Timothy’s life (his mother and grandmother), though not perfect, were faithful. And, it’s in their faithfulness to God, and their nurture and guidance of him, that they left a lasting legacy and foundation of faith for Timothy’s personal and spiritual growth into manhood. Without their faithfulness, Timothy would have undoubtedly been at the mercy of the processes of the mechanisms of the world.

Though mentioned only briefly in Scripture, the story of Lois and Eunice’s faith in God resounds like a megaphone through the life of Timothy, and throughout the ages, in the books that bear Timothy’s name in the New Testament.

What can we specifically gather from their influence on Timothy’s life?

As the young Timothy grew from a boy and into a young man, the seed of genuine faith planted in his life by his mother and grandmother was cultivated and grew to maturity; so much so, that Paul took him under his wing as a protégé (a spiritual son), and entrusted the church in Ephesus to his leadership.

What we notice about Timothy’s upbringing is not only the genuine faithfulness of his mother and grandmother, but also their willingness to stand in opposition to other family members who did not believe. Now, their opposition isn’t expressed as obstinance or blatant defiance, but as a gentle, peaceable contrast to Timothy’s father who was a “Greek.” Strictly speaking, to reference Timothy’s father this way is in essence to say that he did not share in the rest of the family’s faith in Jesus. Oftentimes, in the New Testament, the word “Greek” or “Gentile” usually refers to those who are “heathen” or “pagan,” and not believers in God or Christ. Thus, we don’t get any indication that Timothy’s father shared in the Christian faith, because Luke and/or Paul would have made mention of it if that were so.

This Mother’s Day, I would like to close with an affirmation written by John Killinger in his book, Lost in Wonder, Love, and Praise. He writes…

“I believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of the loving God, who was born of the promise to a virgin named Mary.

“I believe in the love Mary gave her son, that caused her to follow him in his ministry and stand by his cross as he died.

“I believe in the love of all mothers, and its importance in the lives of the children, they bear. It is stronger than steel, softer than down, and more resilient than a green sapling on the hillside. It closes wounds, melts disappointments, and enables the weakest child to stand tall and straight in the fields of adversity.

“I believe that this love, even at its best, is only a shadow of the love of God, a dark reflection of all that we can expect of him, both in this life and the next.

“And I believe that one of the most beautiful sights in the world is a mother who lets this greater love flow through her to her child, blessing the world with the tenderness of her touch and the tears of her joy.”[1]

[1] John Killinger, Lost in Wonder, Love, and Praise.