Equipped to Stand in a Sinful Culture
It’s hard to be a Christian mom in today’s culture.
The priority of a Christian mother is that her children to grow up to know the Lord and stand strong in a sinful culture. But how do we accomplish this?
Last Days
The book of 2 Timothy is written by Paul to his disciple, Timothy. He is instructing Timothy on how to be a soldier of Christ among enemies of the Gospel. In 2 Timothy 3:1, Paul tells Timothy that they are living in the “last days”. Today, we still are in the last days—the time between Paul’s writing of this book and Christ’s return. The last days are frightening because of difficult times, which are described in verses 2-5:
“For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.”
Does this description sound familiar? Does it sound horrifying? The passages goes on to describe the terrible conditions, which are brought on mainly because of those who oppose the truth of God and God’s Word. They are foolish and reject God, which leads to the sinful culture that was just described. This is a sinful culture that is all too familiar to us today.
The Cost of Godliness
Paul uses this description to remind Timothy that the cost of being godly in this culture is high. In verse 12, he says, “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Not only will persecution be guaranteed for the godly, but Paul adds that evil people who reject the truth will proceed from ‘bad to worse’ as they deceive and as others are deceived (V. 13). The reality is that our world isn’t getting any better, but I don’t think you need me to tell you that.
How discouraging is this, especially as parents? Be reassured that there is hope found in Scripture! 2 Timothy 3:14-15 says, "You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” What things was Timothy taught, and by whom?
Faithful Teachers
In 2 Timothy 1:5, Paul mentions Timothy’s grandmother and mother by name—Lois and Eunice. They faithfully taught Timothy the Scriptures. He was exposed to the truth of God’s word, and he became “convinced” of it. This means that he made his faith his own—after all, our personal faith as parents cannot save our children; they need to believe in the Gospel on their own. This careful instruction, however, led to his faith and salvation through the Gospel. This was because Lois and Eunice were faithful to teach Timothy the Bible.
Mothers, don’t be distracted by the world’s ideas of success! We play such an important role in the lives of our children. Can you clearly see the intentional teaching and influence that Timothy’s mother and grandmother had in Timothy’s life? Don’t waste this opportunity. Yet, the focus here is not on those who taught Timothy, but in the fact that it was the Scriptures changed his life from an early age. You have an influence, so make sure that it’s based on the Bible!
Equipped for Every Good Work
Everything must be based on Scripture, because Scripture is useful for everything in life. 2 Timothy 3 ends with these two verses: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” (3:16-17)
The word inspired means ‘God breathed’, literally from the mouth of God. The Bible isn’t a book of traditions, or ancient history, it is God’s direct communication to us. We sometimes take this for granted, when in reality it is the most valuable and precious thing for a Christian. Scripture has everything we need for life! Some of the usefulness of Scripture that is mentioned is below:
Teaching (how and what we instruct our kids in—does that have a biblical basis?)
Reproof and correction (calling someone out on their sin and bringing them to the correct thinking; Scripture shows us what is right so that we can do this.)
Training in righteousness (this should be our ultimate goal in life: to live purely in obedience to God.)
Scripture is what equips the man or woman of God for every situation to serve God, as verse 17 says: “equipped for every good work”.
This applies to our kids. This is the outcome we want for them as they grow up in a sinful culture and difficult times! We should endeavor to follow Lois’ and Eunice’s example to expose and train our kids in the truths of Scripture.
This applies to us as Mothers. Do we use and value the Bible in our parenting and daily life? Or are we reliant on secular sources to give us advice for the things that we do? Be very careful. There are so many resources out there for parents, especially with the advent of the internet and social media, but much of the advice is not biblical. It takes a lot of wisdom and discernment to sort through that. Be careful of your sources for advice. The more that you are in God’s Word, and the more that you learn it, meditate on it, and memorize it, the more your spiritual maturity and discernment will develop.
Also, make spiritual things more important than other things. Often, we can be concerned about our kids missing out. Don’t over-commit your children to the point where church and spiritual things become unimportant. Teach your kids about the truth of the Bible and then show them its importance by how you live your life.
This applies to all of us. This passage isn’t written only to parents; it’s written to all Christians. After all, culture has always been sinful and we have been in the last days since Paul wrote this letter. Christians around the world have experienced persecution for hundreds of years. Review the beginning of chapter 3 if you need a reminder of the culture we are facing. In a sinful culture that rejects God and celebrates sin, the only thing that can help us stand firm is God’s Word.
Christian moms and Christian women, be encouraged that God gave us the direct communication of Scripture so that we can be “thoroughly equipped” for Him. Not only did God provide everything we need, but he allows us to influence our children to in turn be ‘thoroughly equipped for every good work’. God did not leave us to figure it out on our own!
Photo by Karsten Würth on Unsplash
