Gods Greatness in Grandparents
2 Timothy 1:1-14
If you’re a Grandparent and a Christian then you need to know that God has put greatness within you to be lavished on your Grandchildren.
At a round-table discussion, various religious leaders tried to answer the question "When does life begin?"
"At conception," said the first.
"No, no," said the second. "It begins at birth."
"It's in between," said the third. "Life begins at 12 weeks when the fetus develops a functional heartbeat."
"I disagree with all of you," said a Rabbi. "Life begins when your last child leaves home and takes the dog with him." http://www.butlerwebs.com/jokes/parents.htm
For those of us who are fortunate enough to be called Grandparents we would argue with all that theological opinion and assert that life begins when you’re a Grandparent because the Bible says so.
"Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life."
Proverbs 16:31
"Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers."
Proverbs 17:6
Did you know that there is a test that you can take to become a Grandmother?
THE GRANDMA TEST
A woman was out walking with her 4-year-old granddaughter. The child picked up something
off the ground and started to put it in her mouth. The woman took the item away from
the child and said “please don’t do that”.
"Why?" the child asked.
"Because it's been on the ground. You don't know where it's been, it's
dirty, and probably has germs," was the reply.
At this point, the granddaughter looked at the Grandmother with total admiration and
asked, "Grandma, how do you know all this stuff? You are so smart."
Thinking quickly she said, "All Grandmas know this stuff. It's on the Grandma
Test. You have to know it, or they don't let you be a Grandma."
They walked along in silence for 2 or 3 minutes, but the little girl was evidently
pondering this new information. "Oh...I get it!" she beamed, "So if you
don't pass the test, you have to be the Grandpa."
"Exactly," replied the Grandmother. Posted by John Jaeger
http://cleanhumorplace.blogspot.com/search/label/Grandparent%20Humor
Today we will look at God’s word and try to learn a life lesson from Lois the Grandmother of Timothy.
We get very little information about Lois but that does not prevent us from learning about the impact she had on a young boy.
Timothy is the first second generation Christian mentioned in the New Testament. Timothy is credited as the person to whom the Epistles were entrusted to by Paul and since Timothy had travelled with Paul on many of his missionary journeys it is reasonable to assume that Timothy would have made reference to the other letters written by Paul since he was present at the planting of some of these churches to whom these other letters were addressed.
Timothy grew up in a home with a Jewish mother and a Greek father. His Grandmother Lois was also Jewish. At that time families kept the Grandparents around and even had them living under the same roof. This was most likely the situation for Timothy.
He was raised to look like a Greek and talk like a Greek but his spiritual training was from his maternal Grandmother and mother who were both Jewish/Christians as mentioned by Paul.
2 Timothy 1:5
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.
Timothy lived in a town called Lystra in what is present day Turkey. It was a rocky region with small mountains and streams. Paul had healed a man there who was lame from birth and the man jumped up and began to walk around Acts 14:8.
The people of the town thought that Paul and Barnabas were the Greek gods Hermes and Zeus. They were so impressed with the miracle that they wanted to offer sacrifices to them. But Paul and Barnabas tore their cloths to show they were just ordinary men and not gods. Paul then used the opportunity to tell them of the true God and of Jesus God’s son.
Their message made the local Jews upset and so the Jewish leaders turned the Pagan crowd against Paul and Barnabas and had Paul stoned since he was the chief speaker. They left Paul for dead but the disciples of Lystra gathered around Paul and he rose to his feet. The next day Paul and Barnabas left for Derbe a town farther north.
It is possible that Lois and Eunice were some of those early disciples who gathered around Paul after he had been stoned or they most certainly would have heard of the incident. But the Bible does not tell us if they were or were not in the crowd.
But by the time Paul made his second missionary journey to the town about five years later Timothy would have been numbered with the believers. In large part thanks to Lois and Eunice nurturing this young mans faith by their Christian example.
“God sometimes works in a physical family, as He did here, establishing Jesus' faith in one family member so it can be passed along to others. Sometimes God uses the child in a more obvious way than He uses the parents or grandparents, as happened with Timothy. The faith of God can be nurtured, seasoned and matured as it passes through grandparents and parents to a child. It's not only an honor for a parent or grandparent to serve in this way but a high calling.” – (italics mine)
Jerold Aust http://www.ucg.org/faith/profiles-faith-timothy-pauls-son-faith
Timothy left Lystra to become the companion of Paul and Silas on the rest of the Second Missionary Journey. “Unlike other cities Paul visited, Lystra apparently had no synagogue, though Timothy and his mother and grandmother were Jewish. Perhaps for the first time in his missionary work, Paul was reaching Gentiles with the gospel of Christ without approaching them through the common ground of Judaism.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lystra
Timothy grew in faith and knowledge as he served with Paul and Silas. Eventually Timothy was entrusted with the church in Ephesus it is here that Paul’s letters 1st Timothy and 2nd Timothy were sent.
Church tradition holds that Timothy served as Bishop in Ephesus for more than 15 years until his death around 80A.D. when he was stoned to death by Pagans who opposed his attempts to stop a Pagan celebration that involved the procession of idols.
This young man full of faith that was planted in him by his grandmother and mother made a difference in the world for Jesus Christ that is still being fulfilled in our time. He left his home and family and an obvious life of comfort to surrender all for Jesus.
Philippians 1:6
6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Maybe God has a plan for you that includes your faith being planted in your Grandchild?
Start a good work in your Grandchildren and children this summer and trust God to see it through to completion. You just might be sharing ice cream with one of the giants of our faith who just hasn’t grown up yet. – Amen.
Kids on Grandparents:
Grandparents are a lady and a man who have no little children of their own. They like other people's.
• A grandfather is a man grandmother.
• Grandparents don't have to do anything except be there when we come to see them. They are so old they shouldn't play hard or run. It is good if they drive us to the store and have lots of quarters for us.
• When they take us for walks, they slow down past things like pretty leaves and caterpillars.
• They don't say, "Hurry up!"
• They can take their teeth and gums out.
• They have to answer questions like, "Why isn't God married?" and "How come dogs chase cats?"
• When they read to us, they don't skip. They don't mind if we ask for the same story over again.
• They know we should have snack-time before bedtime and they say prayers with us every time, and kiss us even when we've acted bad.
