A Mother’s Priorities Series

2 TIMOTHY 3: 14-17

A MOTHER’S PRIORITIES

[2 Timothy 1:1-5 / Acts 15:1-6]

Laura Ingalls Wilder said, “Lessons learned at a mother’s knee last through life." She also said, “The mother is and must be, whether she knows it or not, the greatest, strongest, and most lasting teacher her children have."

“One mother achieves more than a hundred teachers” says a Yiddish Proverb

Abraham Lincoln said, “The greatest lessons I ever learned were at my mother’s knees.”

Thomas Edison said: “I did not have my mother long, but she cast over me an influence which has lasted all my life. The good effects of her early training I can never lose. If it had not been for her appreciation and her faith in me at a critical time in my experience, I should never likely have become an inventor. I was always a careless boy, and with a mother of different spiritual caliber, I should have turned out badly. But her firmness, her sweetness, her goodness were potent powers to keep me in the right path. My mother was the making of me.”

The sustaining influence on Timothy is traced back to his early home life also. Paul began this book of 2 Timothy by reminding Timothy of the godly heritage with which he was blessed. In 2 Timothy 1:5 he states, “For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.” God had performed a genuine work in Timothy’s life through his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois.

Eunice was a single mother in a scary world. She was a Jewish believer in Jesus. She’d been married to a Greek unbeliever, who’d either left or died (Acts 16:1). Then, like today, raising a child in a single parent home, was no picnic.

Yet there are times of compensation. A little boy invaded the DRESS DEPARTMENT of a large department store and said to the salesperson, "I want to buy my mom a dress, but I don’t know what size." "Is she tall or short, fat, or skinny?" asked the clerk. "Well, she’s just perfect," answered the boy. She wrapped-up a "size 8" for him. Two day’s later Mom came and exchanged the dress for a "size 16."

Eunice’s boy Timothy was that kind of compensation and became an even greater one, not just to her but to the Lord. There were good reasons that he became such a man of God as he is called. Eunice was a wise and spiritually-strong mother. Her priorities were learned at her mother Lois’ knee, and passed along to Tim. The world pushes transitory values - money, position, power and fame. You can sense that with a quick look at the TV lineup for most evenings - American Idol, the Voice, Survivor, Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire, and many more.

Mother’s Day is a good day to review a mother’s priorities with her children. We find four in 2 Timothy 3:14-17. Paul is writing to a young pastor which he had taken under his wing to train. Let’s look-in on the review Paul conducted with his young protégé Timothy.

Paul has just given his own testimony of faithful service and now directs his personal challenge to his beloved disciple Timothy. Now Paul calls his young friend to be faithful to Jesus and His Word while he walk in the world (CIT). It is world prone to evil because it is inhabited by deceived and deceitful people. Each of us is susceptible this dangerous trap of deception unless we diligently obey the Scriptures. Scripture stands as the foundation for truth.

PRIORITY #1: A STRONG SUBSTRUCTURE, 3:14-15a.

The sustaining influence on Timothy is traced back to his early home life. Timothy’s mother gave him a solid foundation for living life. If you don’t give your children a solid foundation in God’s Word, they will be deceived by the deception of this world as 2 Timothy 3:13-15a discloses. “Evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. [14] You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, [15] “and that from childhood you have known the Sacred Writings ”

As those taught by the Word of God grow better and better through grace, so bad men grow worse and worse through the counsel of Satan and the bondage of their own corruptions. The way of sin slopes down-hill; moving people from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. [Those who deceive others open themselves to worse deception.] Thus the exhortation is to continue in the things Timothy had learned and become convinced of (1 Cor. 15:1-2). He knew the character [quality of life] in those who had taught him the truths he now held to be non-negotiable. The word translated “whom” being plural, most likely alludes to Timothy’s mother and grandmother who, in addition to Paul, had spiritually impacted Timothy’s life. Timothy still held tenaciously to the things that they with strong conviction instilled.