A good family heritage is a gift. From Seers, Sayers, Schemers & Saints and 2 Timothy 1:

Grandmas are the best. The Bible talks more about grandmothers that one might think. Remember Joash’s evil grandmother, Athaliah? Now, let’s meet a grandma from the other end of the spectrum, someone we’d want to spend time with. Lois is famous, revered through the ages, because she was a godly grandmother. Timothy, her grandson, traveled as a missionary with Paul and developed some of the first successful churches. Timothy grew to become one of Paul’s closest friends and confidants. Paul was encouraged by his sincere faith and Paul addressed his last known written correspondence (the book of 2 Timothy) to Timothy.

Genuine faith never appears out of thin air. Timothy absorbed it from his mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois. Paul knew them both and perceived their faith as the spring that watered the flowering of Timothy’s commitment to the Lord. Neither Timothy’s father, who was thought to be Greek, nor Timothy’s grandfather, are mentioned in the text. Timothy’s faith developed from his matriarchal lineage.

A strong and sincere faith is not guaranteed from one generation to the next. Many well-meaning parents apply all the religious parenting techniques currently in vogue only to see their children reject the faith, or ignore the faith, or quietly set the faith aside. Christianity is only one generation deep. Every generation must believe afresh. Lois did something right. Too bad we don’t know her practices as we could use them to develop a series of books, podcasts and video guides on how to raise children of faith. We could dub it the “Lois-ization” of our children. I would have bought it when my kids were little. However, we do own one clue about her methodology—her faith is described as “sincere.”

“Sincere” is defined by Webster’s dictionary as being “free from pretenses or deceit; not hypocritical, genuine, whole-hearted, real, honest, frank, upfront, candid, on the level, pure.” Our children sniff out hypocrisy in our lives and our words as parents. When we act one way in front of others and a totally different way at home, the kids notice. They start to surmise that the Christian faith that their parents profess is not fully realized, not efficacious, and not deeply meaningful. They correctly deduce that if that’s all there is to the Christian faith, then no need to waste their time here. Plenty of other good things to pursue on a Sunday morning.

What holds for a parent holds for a leader. No effective apologetic exists for hypocrisy. A leader who is fake or pretentious really is not a leader at all, but merely a figurehead, a placeholder. This person might hold the position of boss or director, but he is not a leader others will follow wholeheartedly. You may work for a two-faced supervisor because there’s a steady paycheck in it, but you’ll bolt when a better opportunity comes along. Hypocrisy manufactures a legacy of disbelief, disengagement and distance. True for parents and true for leaders.

This was not true of Lois. Her sincere faith refreshed Paul and molded Timothy. You are never alone as you live out your faith. Our sincerity does not fade away in vain, even if we do not see the results. Two old sayings come to mind when I think of Lois and the many godly grandmothers who followed in her path. The first reminds us that “the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.” Good leadership, like good parenting, imprints qualities on the next generation. If another old saying is true, that “our most important contributions are the ones we leave behind,” then the legacy left by Lois will be hard to surpass. Forever stamped in Scripture, this quiet grandmother’s endowment offers us much to ponder as parents, grandparents and leaders.