Faithfulness Is Simply Witnessing To Those Nearest You (2 Tim 1:5)

“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.”

After his opening salutations, Paul’s first words to Timothy were to remind him that it was his grandmother, Lois, and mother, Eunice who had handed down to him the Christian faith he believed in. These were just ordinary women who we know did not do extraordinary things for the Christian Church. But we can see their faithfulness in witnessing faithfully to their children the true Christian faith. The fruit of their faithfulness was seen in Timothy’s life despite the fact they did not set out to plan for him to take over from Paul. I think that is a good lesson for us to learn that faithfulness is not dreaming of doing great things for God tomorrow but doing the mundane for him today.

We all have what some people call a sphere of influence - a small circle where our actions affects another person’s life. We have our own families, we work in an office with other colleagues, we play games with people of similar interests, we have our neighbours, and so on. We can share about what God has done in our lives and then leave it to God to touch their hearts. And we should not be ashamed to share the Gospel. What is it that motivates us to share the Gospel? Think about it, what would motivate you to share the Gospel with those people in your sphere of influence? I know some literature puts the burden on us to witness because if we do not people will go to hell, etc. That is true and valid but let me give you one more reason why I think you should share it – because the Gospel is true. That is right; you should share the Gospel because it is true and has worked in your life. That is what a witness does, just tell what is true and what he has seen. Think about it, if something is true and good for you, don’t you want to share it with your friends? When you go out to Telok Ayer market and you eat char kway teow and you find it to be so good, don’t you talk about it with your friends over the next days? When someone wants to eat roti prata wouldn’t you suggest some place where you know the roti prata is good? So if you can share something about the goodness of the food that you have eaten then why not share the truth about the God who has been good to you? All of us are Christians because someone near us took the trouble to share the Gospel with us and we were touched by God. That is all that Lois, Timothy’s grandmother and Eunice, his mother did. They faithfully carried out their ministry – to share the Gospel with their own household. Their simple faith and faithfulness made a significant difference in God’s Kingdom. And that is what we all can do, no exceptions, faithfully witnessing whenever we can to whoever we can.