Hedgemaker Baptist – God’s Faithfulness in Childhood
God is not only faithful from the beginning, but he is faithful throughout the years. Take the example of Timothy (2Tim. 1:5). Timothy’s faith was an outflow of his grandmother’s faith, who “passed it along” to his mother, who, in turn, “passed it along” to Timothy. To be sure, each person needed to exercise personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but God was faithful to help Lois and Eunice to influence the life of little Timothy.In 2 Timothy 3:15, Paul reminded Timothy that he had known the holy Scriptures from a child. Obviously, the Scriptures were known by Timothy because Lois and Eunice taught him the Scriptures. When a child is taught the Scriptures, God is exercising his faithfulness to preserve and to entreat that child regarding the Scriptures. Paul develops the theme in the next verse (v.16) where he says that the Scriptures are profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. God is faithful to work with the child through the Scriptures to make the necessary and desired changes.
God remained faithful to Timothy by bringing him into contact with the Apostle Paul, who evidently led him to personal faith in Christ. Paul called Timothy, “my dearly beloved son” (2Tim. 1:2). Timothy’s biological father was evidently an unbelieving Gentile (Acts 16:1-3). Timothy’s testimony tells us that God can faithfully bring anyone to Himself. A child can also manifest the faithfulness of God by the principle of sowing and reaping. Proverbs 20:11 says, “Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right.” This verse reflects God’s faithfulness to his principles of life. We cannot “weasel our way” around the truth that God is faithful to his word. What you sow, you reap. This truth remains solid for a child as well as for an adult. God is indeed faithful to his children. (LEH) |