When I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also (2 Timothy 1:5).
Faith can be inherited, as it was the case of Timothy. His grandmother and mother were believers, and he followed them into the kingdom of God.
While inherited faith can be a blessing, it can also be a hindrance. We can lean on others so much that we don’t develop the faith to stand on our own.
Lot was Abraham’s nephew, and lot was exceedingly blessed as long as he hung around Abraham. The land couldn’t contain them both. As soon as lot separated from Abraham, his blessing ceased. He ended up losing everything but the shirt on his back.
I’ve watched children who were raised in a strong Christian home seem to lose their faith when they left home. They didn’t realize the blessing that they had in life was because of the faith of their parents. They never developed a faith on their own apart from their parents.
I’ve seen Bible school graduates who sensed the call of God on their lives get involved in a large growing church. They didn’t realize that the blessing they had was because of the association with the man of God whose faith was carrying them. When they left to “go it alone” in starting a church in another town, they floundered. They found that they had been riding on the pastor’s faith.
My mother prayed me into the kingdom of God, and had an unusually close relationship with the Holy Spirit. She would know things about my future before I knew them. As a young man, I began to realize that I can’t “ride her coattails” to heaven. I had to purposely ask her to share no insights with me that she had received from the Lord, and to let me develop on my own.
As a pastor I’ve see people who seem to be robust in their faith and confidence in God. Yet when they leave our church, they lose the faith they thought they had.
Don’t allow your faith to only be an episode in your life. Make sure that you develop your own confidence in God, and that what you have is more than a derivative of faith that you received from another person. That way, if God calls you on to do something your own, you’ll be fully prepared and ready for the assignment.
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