Mother's Fingerprint

A Mother’s Fingerprint – 2 Timothy 1:5

A Mother’s Day Message

Everyone’s fingerprint is unique to them. That doesn’t surprise me because each of us is unique in many ways – God created us that way. We sometimes use the term fingerprint to insinuate that a person’s influence has been left behind as though it is a unique clue to the person responsible for whatever action or event we’ve witnessed.

A mother’s influence on her children is her fingerprint on the lives of her children. Mother’s write on the hearts of their children what the hand of time cannot erase. No matter where you may roam or how distant time and space has removed you from her presence, you cannot escape the influence your mother has on your life.

Have there been times in your life that you were faced with a difficult decision and advice or lessons from your mother came to mind to help you make that decision?

E.W. Caswell said, “It’s only in later life that men gaze backward and behold how a mother’s hand and heart… shaped their destiny.”

It is with that thought in mind that we turn our eyes to a passage of text written by Paul to the young pastor Timothy.

2 Tim. 1:1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, 2To Timothy, my dear son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

3I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. 4Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. 5I have been 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. 6For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

The Apostle Paul had a great fondness for Timothy. Timothy had served with Paul during his second missionary journey. He writes what is probably the last Epistle before his death to his young partner in ministry. In these final words Paul charges Timothy fan into flame the gift of God that is in him.

Timothy is said to have been the pastor at the church in Ephesus. During the persecution of Christians by Roman Emporer Nero, the Apostle John lived with him for awhile before being exiled to the Isle of Patmos. It is said that he remained single his entire life and died over the age of 80 when he was martyred by pagans. While we don’t know a lot about the ministry of Timothy, the fact that Paul takes such time and effort while in prison to instruct him on the affairs of the church leads us to believe that Paul had great confidence in this young pastor.

Paul says to Timothy; 5 ”I have been 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.”

Lois and Eunice are only mentioned by name in this text. But in this one verse an entire legacy is remembered as Paul points to the impression Timothy’s mother and grandmother made on him.

In Acts 16 we find that Timothy’s mother was a Jewess and a believer in Christ. His father however, was a Greek and probably knew very little about God. We find that Timothy was trained in the scriptures from his earliest childhood according to 2 Timothy chapter 3.

In all likelihood, Paul is responsible for leading Timothy to Christ given his journey with him on his missionary journey, but, it is probable that it was his mother and grandmother that steered him toward Jesus. They were converts to Christianity and it would have been natural for them to share that faith with Timothy.

Being established with a solid foundation in scripture, these two Godly women I’m sure took to heart the passage of scripture from Deuteronomy:

"fix these words of Mine in your hearts and minds: ... Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up" Deut. 11:18, 19

They knew that if he had a good foundation, he would be strong as he grew.

”Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." Proverbs 22:6