| Soaking Up Faith |
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Soaking Up Faith When I call to remembrance the genuine faith . . . which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.
2 Timothy 1:5
Osmosis is a gradual process whereby a liquid moves through a membrane resulting in an equal concentration of fluid on both sides. We sometimes say that, "She learned German by osmosis while living there." Lots of things can be acquired by osmosis—including knowledge and belief. While we don't know exactly what went on in Timothy's household when he was growing up, it looks like he might have acquired his faith in an osmotic fashion: soaking it up from his mother and grandmother who were both believers in Jesus. Timothy's mother (and perhaps his grandmother) was a Jewess, so she likely had an Old Testament understanding of the Messiah (Acts 16:1) which Timothy probably soaked up as well. Regardless of how they came to believe in Jesus, in time Timothy came along with them. We often hear people say, "I can't remember a time when I didn't believe even though I confessed my faith publicly when I was 12." Children can soak up a lot from their parents: opinions, accents, tastes in food. They can soak up knowledge of Jesus, too, if it's made available. |
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