Welcome to the Foundations Daily podcast.  My name is Helen, and I’m starting the week by looking at 1Timothy 4 vs6-10.  You can listen to this passage in full at the end of the podcast.

This is our third week of looking at this letter – but who exactly is Timothy?  I’d like to use today’s reading to reflect on his background and his context, and to see what we can learn from Timothy’s life and his relationship with Paul.

REFLECTION:

So, let’s start at the beginning……..

Timothy’s mother was Jewish and his Dad was Greek, but we know from the book of Acts that his grandmother, Lois, was a Christian, and so was his mother, Eunice; and therefore Timothy was raised to know Jesus.  So, he was this mixed race boy, with only 1 parent who was a Christian, surrounded by lots of non-Christian friends and connections through his father, who seemingly never converted.

If people say the Bible doesn’t relate to society today, where we find ourselves having to navigate all sorts of different cultures, races and family backgrounds……just point them to Timothy!

We can learn a lot from his experiences as a child.  From a young age, Lois and Eunice had raised Timothy on the message of faith and had taught him to follow sound teaching.  This enabled him to steer a course through his culture and context, and to keep his eyes firmly fixed on Jesus.

If you are parenting young children, how can you raise your little ones on the message of faith, so that they too will be able to grow and thrive as disciples of Jesus, no matter what culture and context they find themselves in?

The teaching and training Timothy received in the home was to prove instrumental as he entered adolescence.  As a teenager, Timothy was passionate and radical, and he was also released to be a good servant of Jesus.

Timothy was about 16 when Paul first met him, but by this age his character, conduct and personal discipleship were already well spoken about and respected.  Because of this, Paul invited Timothy to join him and Silas on his secondary missionary journey.

So Timothy left home.  He tried to get into Asia to preach the Gospel, and then helped to set up churches in Philippi and Thessalonica.  That’s pretty full on for a 16 year old.  However, he also agreed to be circumcised before they set off, so that he would be accepted by the Jewish people they were going to preach to.  If that doesn’t show you the radical faith of this teenage boy, I’m not sure what will!

But what can we learn from Timothy as a teenager?

Well, if you are a young person listening to this, remember that God has always used teenagers with radical faith to play a central part in sharing the Gospel.  God is calling you to lead and to disciple other people, just as he called Timothy.

As you have been raised on the message of faith, and taught to follow the teachings of Jesus, now pass this on to others, and steer clear of silly stories or myths that could divert or distract you from what God is calling you to do.

This stage of Timothy’s life is also a challenge to those raising teenagers today.  Eunice was definitely not what we might call a ‘helicopter parent’, or a ‘curling parent’.  She didn’t go ahead of him, making sure his path was smooth, trying to remove any obstacles that he might encounter, and neither did she hover around him, constantly overseeing every aspect of his life.

She released him.

If you are parenting a teenager or a young adult, are you ready to release them to be a good servant of Jesus in their generation, no matter where this journey takes them, no matter what the risks are, and no matter what fears you have?

And then finally, when we read the books of 1 and 2 Timothy, we find letters to a man who is now between 30-40 years old; written by Paul – his friend and spiritual mentor – who is probably aged 60-65 by this point.