We start the fourth week of our Month of Mission where we concentrate on passing our faith on to the next generation.
Today's devotion is from JACO BESTER who serves St John's Presby in Middleburg.
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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. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands...
(2Tim3:14-15) ...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..." 2Timothy1:5-6
There is an old Spanish proverb that says: "an ounce of mother is worth a ton of priest." This proverb was born not so much out of a disdain for the work of priests, but rather out of an appreciation for the fact that there is none more important, when it comes to the spiritual formation and grounding of a child, than the parent. Our parents, if they fulfil the biblical call made of them, are the ones who form and literally shape our faith.
Let me say from the outset; there is not one model for parenthood, there's no recipe or twelve-step program that will offer a fail-proof system for being a good faith-shaping parent. The challenges faced by parents differ from one family to another. Every parent's context is unique, and so the challenges of parenthood that we face are unique too, and no one can offer us a recipe to deal with those challenges.
But one thing is certain; the one universal truth of parenthood is the fact that we shape the faith of our children -- for better, or for worse -- this is what I like to call the missional dimension of the family. There is a very real sense in which every parent is a missionary (of the most precious kind) to their children.
The first step in celebrating biblical parenthood is to understand and accept (even embrace) the influence we have on our children's spiritual formation. Paul reminds Timothy that his faith is worth fanning into flame because of the fact that it has been handed down to him by his mother and grandmother (chiefly) and also by himself as his spiritual father.
Timothy's faith was no accident; it was the result of the example set by his mother (and grandmother). It arose from the fact that his mother helped to "acquaint" him with the scriptures from childhood and how he "learned" about faith from her (3:14-15).
We are missionaries, faith-shapers, to our children.
A final thought...
When Robert Ingersoll, the notorious sceptic, was in his heyday, two college students went to hear him lecture. As they walked down the street after the lecture, one said to the other, "Well, I guess he knocked the props out from under Christianity, didn't he?" The other said, "No, I don't think he did. Ingersoll did not explain my father's life, and until he can explain my father's life I will stand by my father's God."
Parents, please introduce your children to a God that even the greatest sceptics cannot undermine. Please live lives that show forth the glory of God for the sake of our children, for the sake of their faith, because we are the ones who will shape their faith -- by the grace of God and with his help. Let us be good missionaries, faith-shapers, to our children.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
